


It Was Worth It

by randomramblesff



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Post Finale, Post Season 6, Romance, Washington DC, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-08 22:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5516264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomramblesff/pseuds/randomramblesff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff receives a phone call late one night when Annie’s internship is put on hold after an incident, sending him on the next flight out to DC. Oh but wait, he still hasn’t told her he loves her. A post Season 6 fanfiction where Annie gets hurt and Jeff's by her side...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Promise

**Author's Note:**

> (I liked the idea of Annie needing Jeff's support, so when a commenter on a previous story of mine ("Kylo Reven") requested the same sort of thing, I had to write it! There's very minor implied/referenced sexual harassment, nothing in huge detail as I personally would rather stay away from that. I have absolutely no idea if this is any good or if anyone is interested in reading more, so please let me know! 
> 
> If I do update it will probably be every now and again as I'm trying to wean myself off of writing mega long fanfictions... they're taking over my life (I actually currently have 10,000+ words of this written... O_O)! But hey ho, I hope you enjoy it anyway. We'll see! Also this is of course in no way in the style of Community (in the sense of story)... it's not a Season 7/movie pitch in anyway... if you think of the characters in their own real world, then it works. This is in no way connected to my previous "But I Let You Go" series, either!)

Annie lay with her tousled hair splayed out in different directions, a rather sad looking stack of pillows propped up underneath her head, her neck rolled to the side slightly as she inhaled and exhaled slowly, her eyes shut closed, her eyelashes flickering every now and then. Her make-up was still brushed across her face, the stains of messy tears marking down her cheeks, a small yet noticeable scratch just beside her lips that were smudged from lipstick, the colour of them a dark crimson that could be mistaken for bruising but was simply just the colour she’d chosen before it had all happened.

The clocked ticked in the corner of the room, the time showing that she’d been dozing off for a good eleven hours now, after being told to rest by all of the reassuring people who had surrounded her. The last few minutes of the hour ticked away, the bright light pouring in through the shutters that weren’t quite as protective as they looked, Annie’s eyelashes starting to flicker even more often now, her breathing becoming more consistent, her mouth moving just a tiny bit to show that she was on her way to waking.

She rolled her neck around slightly before her face scrunched up, her lips opening into a yawn before her eyes slowly adjusted to the lig-.

“Jeff?” Annie spoke for the first time since he’d arrived in the early hours of the morning. He’d received a phone call late last night, scanning the internet for the next flight out as soon as he’d pressed the disconnect button, a lump forming in his throat as he puzzled everything together. Jeff’s eyes shot up at her question; they were full of concern, the colour of them darkening slightly as he clenched his teeth and took in the sight of her now that she was sat up slightly.

A little black dress clung to her; it was nothing too revealing, just a simple number that was snug in certain areas, making Jeff certain it would have looked perfect. Well, he was certain that it _did_ look perfect… she wore it well, which probably wasn’t the best thing to be thinking in a scenario like this, but with her hair splayed out and her eyes wide with vulnerability, she was still the Annie he knew and admired.

“Hey.” He finally answered, clasping his hands between his knees.

“W... what are you doing here?” Annie mumbled, sitting up some more so that she could compose herself properly, one of her hands dragging through her matted hair before giving up when a flash of the night before crept into her mind, her fingers immediately falling into her lap.

“I guess they got my number from your phone… I got on the first flight I could. I’ve been here since about five… it’s eleven, but it’s fine, if you want to sleep, you should. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” Annie nodded a little, her expression still droopy in exhaustion and confusion. She could remember it all of course, other than the part where she’d had a panic attack… that bit was all a bit fuzzy. She’d had a couple of them before, mainly after rehab when she’d felt the sudden urge to cave back into her previous state, but that had been years ago, so she could hardly remember the feeling it gave her… the pure crushing pain that surged through her body at the thought that everything was just going horribly wrong.

“You didn’t have to come.” She added, fiddling with a loose thread on the hospital blanket that was thrown over her.

“I know… but I wanted to, and I know you don’t _need_ me to be here, but it’s the least I can do. I care about you Annie, and… you’re gonna’ be okay.” The crease between her eyebrow softened as he tried to relax her, a hand stretching out at the foot of the bed.

“Did they tell you anything?”

“A little, but you don’t need to think about that now. Just relax, okay? You should probably eat too; do you want something?” She nodded again, before brushing her cheek, inspecting her hand for any residue of make-up, or just in case, blood.

“Just some water.” Jeff nodded himself, patting the space where his hand was resting before getting up and poking his head out of the door to check for anyone that could help.

“I’ll be right back.” He leant back in the room, sending a smidge of a smile her way before waltzing down the corridor in search for some water on his own accord. As he left though, Annie couldn’t deny the fact that her heart rate had definitely increased, the scratch on her jaw suddenly pulsing with irritation… it wasn’t the fact that Jeff was there, it was the fact that she was now alone once again in a place she didn’t know… exactly how things had been the night before. She’d only been to the bar once before since she’d been in DC, so it was _fairly_ unfamiliar, and she’d been alone waiting for a cab when it had happened. Annie shook her head, letting out a slow breath before closing her eyes and steadying herself.

 _Jeff’s right; I shouldn’t think about that right now… distract yourself… think about…_ she opened one eye to look around the room in search of a distracting object, her eyes landing on the TV in the corner of the room… _TV… yeah, TV… think about Abed… he’s probably doing well, I haven’t spoken to him in a couple of days… I doubt he’s going through this… nope, okay, breathe…_ she took out another breath before once again opening a single eye, and then the other at the sight of Jeff reappearing in the room.

“Water… and some kind of snack bar. I don’t know what you like but I just thought it might help if you’re feeling hungry at all.” Jeff waved a bottle around before unscrewing the cap and passing it over to her, leaving the plastic wrapped bar on the table beside the bed, before sitting back down in the chair that was basically imprinted with his backside after sitting in it for six hours straight.

“You know you really didn’t have to fly all the way here…” Annie spoke up again after taking a few sips of water, pushing herself up into an upright position, her hair draping over her bare shoulders that were covered in goose bumps, Jeff noticed.

“Annie, it’s fine. You shouldn’t be here alone after what happened, okay? Nobody else knows yet because I didn’t know how you were feeling but… honestly, it’s fine. I have nowhere else to be.”

She nodded a little bit more before closing her eyes again and taking in a few deep slow breaths to compose herself some more. She positioned herself on the edge of the bed, her back facing Jeff as she shimmied the hem of her dress down where it had hiked up during her sleep, stepping down onto the floor, her bare feet sending a cool chill all the way through her body as her eyes landed on her pair of strappy heels in the corner of the room.

Annie inhaled again before tucking her hair over one shoulder to finally take a look at herself in the small mirror on the wall. She bit her lip as she realised how pale she was, the previous night’s events obviously draining all of the colour from her cheeks.

Jeff was still sat down, watching her from a distance as she woke herself up. He was certain that she was probably reliving the whole thing in her mind as her eyebrows twisted and her breath caught in her throat. He bit his own lip to stop himself from saying something… if there’s one thing he knew about Annie it was the fact that she didn’t like feeling as if someone was taking care of her like she couldn’t do it herself, which of course she could... she’d been doing it herself for the past six or more years, in fact it sometimes surprised him how much she really _did_ do on her own… but then it really didn’t because this was Annie, and she would do anything to be able to make something work.

“I think I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Annie said with a nod, wedging her feet back into her black heels, leaving the buckles loose.

“Do you, err, need anyone to come with you?” Jeff asked, but suddenly regretted it after it slipped out of his lips, it sounding just how he’d hoped it wouldn’t. Annie raised an eyebrow as he peered over his shoulder at a nurse in the hallway, turning back around to see Annie smiling a tight lipped smile. He knew she was putting on a brave face, but there was nothing he could do about it but let her be.

“Jeff, I’m _fine._ Okay?”

As soon as she was in the corridor though, after passing a nurse and letting them know where she was off to, her heart beat was back to full speed ahead, her hand shaking slightly as she turned every corner. She couldn’t help but look behind her, swallowing hard any time she felt as if she was being followed. The toilet door was shut and locked in a quick swift motion, Annie pressing her back to the door in an attempt to calm herself. After a while though she found herself kneeling down on the floor, the fact that it was sparkling clean actually relaxing her in some way.

It was one of those times when she just felt completely alone… of course Jeff was there to help, but why did it have to be _him?_ It was three and a half weeks into her internship, which meant it had been a month since they’d kissed; a month since one door had closed and another had opened just a few inches, a tiny shining light in what had felt like a year of darkness.

It was true, in the aftermath of Borchert’s Lab, she had shut herself off slightly. She’d closed off part of her heart that she was usually so open with, in an attempt to purely focus on herself, and maybe in one way that had been good for her, but Abed was right; the time you spend in control of your world, is the time you spend letting go of others.

So having Jeff there, the one person who she’d thought she’d let go of but had obviously just wanted more and more of deep down inside of her, wasn't exactly what she'd envisioned... well, none of it was. She didn’t want him to see her like this. She was meant to be the strong one; she knew how to handle these sorts of situations… he knew that… so why was he here?

The last thing she wanted was for Jeff to come in like some superhero, building her back up again. She wanted to be striving with her internship; she wanted to be settling into her new life. Of course they’d spoken after that evening in the study room, and of course they both had hopes of working on that sometime in the (near?) future, but this was just all wrong. It was all the worst timing _once again_ ; she didn’t _need_ this.

Why was she taking this out on Jeff though? He was here as a friend, it’s not like he had other motives like the stupid, inconsiderate, creepy jerk-face douchebag who’d thought it would be perfectly acceptable to push a young woman up against a wall and have his way with her… he didn’t want that… or did he? Annie shook her head at the thought; of course Jeff didn’t.

No matter what was going on between them there is no way Jeff would treat her like that… he wouldn’t use her vulnerability to his advantage… would he? She shook her head once more as a single tear dropped down her cheek, landing on the back of her hand as she wiped away under her nose.

“Annie?” A muffled call came from behind the door, the voice not identifiable over the sound of the bathroom’s fan and the accompaniment of knocking. She stood up and brushed her hands off before pressing an ear to the door.

“Annie? Are you in there?” It was Jeff of course, tapping a knuckle to other side. She sucked up another onslaught of tears before unlocking the door and pulling it back to reveal a worried looking Jeff. He sighed with a relief before clenching his teeth as he noticed the newly formed tears around her eyes.

“I, err, just wanted to check on you because you’ve been in there for like twenty minutes.” Annie wiped her face again, pursing in her lips as she felt her emotions rise to the surface. Before she could really stop herself though she was falling forwards into Jeff’s arms as they wrapped tightly around her, a crying sob escaping her as her cheeks became damp once again, a tiny patch of Jeff’s shirt starting to darken.

It was a familiar shirt that she’d only seen once or maybe twice… it was the same one that he’d worn when the whole ‘Greendale gave a degree to a dog’ situation went down; he really had dropped everything in the middle of the night to come and stand by her side.

Maybe there _were_ benefits to having Jeff there? Maybe all of the reminders of Greendale and the kiss, and all of the smiles and feelings would create a distraction. She knew from her rehab days that there were both pros and cons to distractions when it came to traumatic experiences… they worked for a while but if you left it, you’d be too far gone to be able to fully accept what had happened or what was going on.

She’d allow herself a few moments here and there to immerse herself in those thoughts, but she knew deep down that she had to get through this. Once again, her internship came to mind, because at this point in her life, that was her priority… but being pulled up close to Jeff felt pretty comforting in the moment too.

He was still clinging on when she felt what was almost certainly his lips to the top of her head, the soft pressure lingering for a while as Jeff closed his eyes and soaked up the full scent and warmth of her beneath his arms. He wanted to stay calm for her, but a deep sense of anger was brewing inside of him at the thought that someone had put their hands on her; someone had hurt Annie… _his_ Annie.

* * *

A while later Annie had started to pick herself up, her make-up long gone after her breakdown in front of Jeff, all of her raw emotions coming to the surface. She couldn’t really pin down a time she’d ever been that open with him before… she’d had a bit of rage every now and then, and sometimes she’d be a bit moody but after living with him for three years, Abed was the only one she’d really expressed her feelings with.

Other than overcoming what had happened, the only thing left to do was be cleared off with the nurse and then Annie would be able to sink back into bed at home and try to sleep away the truth that it had ever occurred. As they waited, Annie perched on the side of the hospital bed, her legs swaying a little as they didn’t quite reach the floor.

Jeff was sat back down in the chair as the room filled with silence. He hadn’t really spoken much since his supportive hug in the hallway, because it was a rather difficult situation to be in. Until Annie was ready to actually talk about the night before, just being there was all he could really do.

But he wanted to do more… when he’d buckled up on the flight over, there was something in the back of his mind which was telling him that he could _prove_ something now. It was as if he’d been needing this – okay well not literally, of course there was nothing worse for him than knowing Annie was at harm or _had_ been harmed, but one of the main reasons he’d held himself back from Annie was because he didn’t believe he was good enough. He _knew_ he wasn’t good enough; there were way better men out there than him… Annie deserved a loving person with ambition and drive, someone who was selfless and humble and organised and all of these things that Jeff _believed_ he wasn’t.

Even the thoughts of thinking he needed a situation like this was making him cross off one of those items off of his list; he was being selfish, right? Believing he could prove something by being there was _selfish_. There’s no doubt that he was there for Annie, but the underlying note that there could be something in it for him was the sort of thing he needed to get rid of.

_Annie first.  
Proving myself wrong… way down the list. _

* * *

Annie was free to go home as the afternoon drew in. There wasn’t much to it seeing as she’d only been sent in after a panic attack; the nurses just wanted to keep an eye on her after being in shock, and the last thing she needed was to be left alone. The cops had been at the scene soon after but Annie’s wellbeing had been more of a concern so they’d taken her details and were making sure to ring again in the next couple of days.

“You ready?” Jeff asked, stretching his hands out slightly as he hovered around in the waiting area they’d been sent to. 

“I think I might just, err, text Britta? Or maybe even Abed, I just… I feel like maybe they should know. Plus, people will probably be asking where you are, right?” Jeff tilted his head from side to side, ‘people’ being a debatable choice of words. He waited a little longer though as she pulled out her phone from her bag, blowing out slightly as her fingers darted around on the touch screen keyboard.

Jeff could see her eyebrow crease starting to reform, so he placed his hands over her shoulders and pressed another kiss to the crown of her hair, but even the slightest bit of movement from behind Annie seemed to cause a reaction, making her jolt and let out a shaky breath.

Jeff immediately withdrew, mumbling an apology as he pouted at the floor. Annie closed her eyes before carrying on with her messaging, trying to ignore what Jeff had just done; she knew he was only trying to be caring and affectionate in attempt to keep her calm, but she needed some space and having loving kisses placed on the top of her head and a pair of hands that had once held her shoulders whilst their owner had spoken the words ‘platonic shoulder holding’, didn’t really help.

* * *

_ANNIE:_  Hey – long story but Jeff’s in DC. Something happened last night, I had a panic attack so they sent me to the hospital for a night after shock. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Annie x

 _BRITTA:_  What happened?! I hope you’re okay. Sorry I’m not there too… why did Jeff not tell me?

 _ANNIE:_  I think he’s the only one they called… sorry :-/ Don’t worry though, it’s all good. Thanks Britta x

 _BRITTA:_  Let me know if you want to talk about it! I’m worried…

 _ANNIE:_  I’ll be okay x

* * *

A few minutes later and they were climbing into a cab, Annie tucking herself into a corner, her head resting on the window. Jeff of course had wished she'd lent the other way, leaning her cheek on his shoulder, but it was understandable that she wanted to be alone in her thoughts for a second. The cab driver pulled away, before asking a rather blunt question.

“So, did you two get accidentally knocked up or something?”

Jeff coughed slightly, his eyes bulging at what he’d just been asked. Perhaps it was an obvious sort of thing to ask after they’d been picked up at the hospital together but anything could have happened… they could have been visiting a dying friend, but of course the cab driver decides to ask if they’re pregnant. There’s something in Jeff’s mind thought that decides that Annie could do with a bit of cheering up… and to do that, he’d have to go along with it.

“Yeah we did actually. Pretty unexpected but I think we’re gonna’ keep it.” Jeff blurted out, making Annie immediately spin her head around and pull a confused face, her face creased in so many different directions as she mouthed ‘WHAT?’ at him. He smiled a bit before looking back towards the driver.

“Too many people being careless these days, heh?” He responded, before turning a corner, his hands spinning around the wheel several times as Annie mouthed another question over to Jeff.

 _“Why?”_ She asked, waving her hands in the air. Jeff shrugged a little, glancing towards the rear view mirror to make sure the driver wasn’t trying to work out their conversation.

 _“Because he doesn’t have to know. Just roll with it.”_ Annie rolled her eyes, leaning back over to the window before recognising the area they were driving through. She bit her lip before pulling out her phone again and typing away a draft message. She slid the phone across the middle seat, Jeff noticing a few seconds later, his face dropping slightly as he read the words… all attempts of trying to cheer her up going out the window.

 _DRAFT MESSAGE:_  The bar is down the next street.

Jeff clenched his teeth and looked up at Annie who was trying to control her breathing. She could hardly see it happening but as soon as Jeff truly realised what it meant, his fingers were slipped in-between hers, his thumb brushing over her smooth skin. Annie’s eyebrow quirked as it did sometimes, as they both looked down at their hands intertwined.

There wasn’t much of a chance of getting the cab driver to make a detour as the bar was slowly drawing close. Jeff didn’t know the exact place, but he was pretty certain it was the dark looking bar on the corner… mainly because of the way Annie immediately looked away and clenched her hand slightly tighter, pulling herself towards Jeff, the seat belt buckle digging into her side as Jeff also moved closer, his eyes still on their hands.

 _“You’re going to be okay.”_  Jeff whispered as Annie looked back up at him, her eyes looking slightly smaller (but no less beautiful) than usual as she nodded, her own thumb now brushing back over Jeff’s.

_“I promise.”_


	2. Got There Eventually

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So some of you seemed to enjoy the first chapter which meant what I've already written hasn't gone to waste - woop! Sorry these first couple of chapters are so long... I guess I just get carried away! Hopefully you'll still be enjoying it after this too... also, please note, I have no idea how somebody would react after this kind of situation occurring, so I'm mainly basing it off my imagination and how I personally think Annie would react! I really appreciate your comments too, so please make sure to leave one at the end (or don't, we can still be friends if not))

“This is it…” Annie mumbled as she pushed her apartment door open. It was a short-term lease from someone who was away travelling; it was only small, just three rooms in total – the living room and kitchen blending into one, a bedroom with a tightly squeezed in double bed and a tiny shower room.

Jeff pouted slightly as he propped down his travel bag that he’d rushed to pack, throwing in a few essentials, leaving whatever miscellaneous items were left in from his last trip (which was to his mom’s house perhaps a year or two ago), including some condoms (his mother's best friend's niece was pretty attractive to say the least), a random pamphlet about European flights, a couple of moisturiser samples, a random old tie and a replaceable watch strap that he wasn’t even aware that he owned.

“It’s…” Jeff looked around, taking in the size of the room, noting the large glass window that produced the illusion of more space.  

“Small, I know. It’s the only place I could afford for the summer.” Annie said a little sadly, a slight shrug to her shoulders as she settled her bag down on the kitchen counter.

“Still, probably beats your place over Dildopolis though, right?” The corner of Jeff’s mouth spiked up into a jokey smile, slipping off his shoes and perching his hands on the back of a dining chair.

“It’s like twenty minutes from the White House too… so you know.”

“Well I’m twenty _steps_ from Dean Craig Pelton so I think you win that one.” Annie rolled her eyes before stretching out her back, flicking the door handle to her bedroom open before swinging backwards and pausing with the sudden reminder that…

“Oh god, I didn’t call work…” Annie quickly scrambled to her bag again, pulling out her phone in a frantic rush. Jeff rolled his neck back before sighing a little.

“Annie, _relax._ Call them tomorrow… you’ve got to release the pressure off of yourself every now and again. They’ll understand... you’re the only person who would have been attacked or whatever and _still_ be worried about getting to work the next day.”

“I can’t call them tomorrow Jeff. I’ve already missed a whole day and every impression I make will add to my chances of _maybe_ getting a job there one day. I have to call them.” Annie had her phone in her hands now, her fingertips just a few movements between pressing the ring button.

“Okay but whatever you do, you’re _not_ going in tomorrow.” Annie’s eyes shot up, her lips parting slightly in Jeff’s bluntness.

“I _have_ to go in tomorrow, I’ve been working on some really important stuff and I can’t miss this now… and you can’t tell me what to do. You _chose_ to be here Jeff; I didn’t ask you.” Jeff rolled his eyes and neck again, clenching his teeth and tightening his grip on the chair in response to Annie’s stubbornness.

“Annie come on, you need to let this all sink in… and don’t tell me I’m being overprotective or whatever else you’ve said to me before because I’m not. You’ve got to let these sorts of things settle in. I’m not letting you go.”

Jeff could see the determination still firing through Annie’s eyes; the furrow between her eyebrows increasing as her lip quivered at the thought of Jeff genuinely _not_ letting her go.

“You don’t think I _know_ that? I went to rehab Jeff; I know how these things work. My internship is important to me… I’ve got to let them know that.”

“Yeah well _you’re_ important to me, so you’ve got to relax and indulge in yourself for a change. Be selfish for once because some douchebag decided he could do that too. Call them tomorrow. _Please.”_ Annie parted her lips once again, aware of the genuine concern in Jeff’s voice and the look on his face. Her ears flinched back a touch as she flicked at something on her phone screen, looking back up at Jeff who was still leaning over the chair.

“I’m still calling them.”

Jeff stood back, giving in as Annie busied herself. He could hear her mumbling away in her room as he gave the place a final look over, keeping himself close to her door in case he was needed. A few minutes later she wandered back in, scratching the side of her neck, her arms twisting inwards as she nervously twiddled her hands together, a rush of emotions starting to appear again after letting the office know the very bare minimum details.

“What did they say?” Jeff asked, his arms crossed over as he awaited her response.

“They just said I could come back in… err, whenever I want and that I should update them soon.”

“Good... and I’m sorry if I sounded like a jerk… I just… I’m really sorry this happened… and I want to be there for you. If you want to talk about it, then you can talk to me… and if you don’t, then you don’t have to either. I get it… and I get that you’d probably rather be focusing on your internship than being cooped up here after what happened, but I just think it would probably be best for you if you had someone nearby who can… I don’t know, support you. I don’t know whether I’m the best person but I’m here, and like I said before, I’m not going anywhere.”

“It’s fine Jeff… I appreciate it… and you’re right, I should probably take a step back. But as soon as I feel ready again I _need_ to be back at my internship…” Annie took a few steps closer into the room, her shoulders had eased off from their tensed up position as her fingertips brushed along the surface of couch. “…wait, where are you staying again? Do you have a hotel booked?”

“Yeah see here’s the thing… no.” Jeff’s hands had slipped to the back of his jeans in preparation for the discomfort that could come from the following conversation.

“Oh… I guess you probably wouldn’t have had time, right?”

“Yeah, partly that and the fact that hotels in DC cost slightly more than I’m willing to pay for… and there’s a third reason but I feel like the more I say these things the more you’re going to hate me.”

“You… didn’t want me to be alone?” Annie presumed, her eyebrows tilting upwards questioningly.

“ _Maayyybe…?_ ” Jeff said, raising his own eyebrows, his face scrunching up wearily.

“Well, it’s fine but… there’s only the couch and you’ll be lucky if you fit.”

“It is indeed a peculiarly small couch for a peculiarly small person.” Jeff grinned at her to try and lighten the mood, receiving an eye roll in return.

“No you’re just a peculiarly _large_ person.” He blew out a laugh under his breath before wondering over to the kitchen, Annie making note of how he already looked so at home.

“I think I’m going to get out of this… and burn it.” Annie waved a hand over her dress as Jeff lifted his head up over the kitchen counter from where he was crouching into the fridge, taking a look at what food Annie had to work with, which surprisingly wasn’t a lot.

“Waste of a good looking dress.” Annie looked down towards her feet, a tiny burst of warmth burning through her body at the comment as Jeff fairly obviously glanced up and down her. She bit her lip from overthinking, twiddling with a loose thread she’d noticed at the waist.

“Yeah well I’m not sure I want a permanent reminder of last night in my wardrobe.” Jeff tilted his head to one side before returning to his fridge inspection, leaving Annie to slip away and change into something comfier. As Jeff shut the fridge door again though, he took a few moments for an _exterior_ inspection; taking a look at all of the sticky notes that were laid out perfectly, a couple of magnets holding up some pictures (mainly of her, Troy and Abed) and a pen stuck on with a piece of blue tack.

One sticky note caught his eye in particular though… it was a short to-do list jotted down in Annie’s curly writing, a couple of tiny hearts dotting the eyes…

  * After work drinks at Spades Bar – Wednesday @ 8.30pm
  * Food shopping – Thursday, after work?
  * Call Jeff?
  * Reply to Abed’s postcard



He pouted at the third one, the note was now in his hands as he wondered about why she’d thought of calling, and the reason for the question mark. Since he’d dropped her off at the airport with Abed, they’d texted mostly every day, and emailed back and forth a couple of times, but neither of them had had the courage to pick up the phone… so maybe that was why? Perhaps she wanted to finally break the real ‘voice-to-voice’ silence between them.

His eyes then flicked towards the first two items, making him think of tossing the note into the bin as yet another reminder to the awful night. He officially hated whatever kind of bar ‘Spades’ was… to Jeff, even that simple name now sounded dodgy… plus, why were there after work drinks on a Wednesday?

Jeff then realised why Annie’s fridge was so bare, because of course Annie had planned to go shopping today of all days. It probably wouldn’t be helping the situation seeing as Annie usually found hiccups in her schedule rather frustrating, and it was all because of some jerk. Jeff folded in his lips angrily as he stood up, not noticing that Annie was now in the room, looking at him curiously as he shredded the tiny piece of paper into even tinier pieces.

“What are you doing?” Jeff jumped at her voice, shaking his head as he picked up the pile of neon paper flakes that had fallen on the counter.

“Err… you had a note about… last night. If you’re going to burn your dress, you probably wanted to burn that too.” Annie closed her eyes in a long blink before stepping forwards, her loose fitting top folding into a very specific area as he hunched up her shoulders. She was in what seemed to be a pyjama set, the bottoms a loose purple and blue checked combination, the top a matching colour.

“Yeah… yeah, you’re probably right. I think it was only telling me to reply to Abed’s postcard or whatever, so it’s fine. Thank you?” The paper drifted into the bin as Jeff brushed it from his hands. He was now the one trying not to overthink things at the fact that she hadn’t mentioned calling him… _Of course she wouldn’t, you’re here now, why would she?_

“So… your fridge is pretty empty. Do you want to order… pizza or something?” As Jeff finally settled back into an upright position, he had a chance to admire her cosy little outfit, the distance between them enough to make his subtle glance up and down just that… _subtle._

She shrugged a little, ignoring the minor rumble of her stomach at the mention of pizza. She’d only eaten a few bites of the snack bar back at the hospital and Jeff was right in knowing her favourite lazy comfort food was indeed a good slice of a Hawaiian… she shook the thought away as she remembered that this was Jeff, he hardly touched anything involving dough or grease, which was mainly the reason for him storing his bread in the freezer – ‘for emergencies’.

“It’s fine, you can order something else, I know you probably don’t want to go anywhere near a piece of pizza.” Annie brushed past the couch, pulling out a blanket from a tucked in crevice, shifting a couple of pillows around to set up Jeff’s camp for the night.

“Where’s a good place?” Jeff asked, ignoring her statement about his carb avoiding tendencies.

“Jeff, you don’t have to, you can order something else, I’m fine with just a snack.”

Jeff sighed again, crossing his arms as he realised that this was the sort of thing he’d probably have to deal with if they ever did live together. When Annie’s mood dropped, her ability to just let things go and let things be, _also_ dropped, leaving for a rather tense atmosphere as you battled back and forth with her.

But he would win this one… he spotted a tacked up sheet of paper, colourful writing spread across the page in the same curly writing from the to-do list. It was a colour coordinated chart of take-aways that she’d ordered from in the past few weeks. The list was categorised (even though there were only about four names written down), a choice of two pizza places to choose from. He took the piece of paper from the wall and dangled it in front of him as he spoke.

“Which is better?” Annie finally gave in, mumbling a little in return.

“It depends what you want but I’d prefer Domino’s right now, but then the other one does way less greasy food and they come with a free salad… I’ll have a Hawaiian.”

“Got there eventually.”

* * *

 

The summer sun had set hours ago, filling the apartment with darkness as they sat on either side of the room tucking into the pizzas that Jeff had ordered. Not many words had been uttered since the food had arrived, leaving them in silence apart from the Netflix show that Jeff had never seen, flickering away on the TV attached to Annie’s wall.

As Jeff finished up with his veggie pizza (the least carb-filled dough based option on the menu), he tried his best to stay focused on the screen in front of them, but he couldn’t keep his eyes from drifting over to Annie, who was curled up into the tightest ball of a human he’d ever physically known possible, one of the last slices of her Hawaiian flopping over her hand.

He knew exactly what she was thinking about by the way her eyes flickered up and down from the floor and back to the wall, her lips parting every now and again but not to eat the food in front of her… her eyes never drifting over to him in case he could somehow delve into her thoughts.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jeff asked, finally breaking her vision from the TV.

“Not yet.” Annie said, shaking her head, placing the pizza slice back down in its box, stretching an arm out to grab the TV remote, switching off the show, the room now only lit by a small light in the corner.

“I’m pretty tired, I think I might go…” Annie pointed towards the door, leaving Jeff to nod, stretching up and off the couch to pack away the mess. As Annie pushed open her bedroom door, she turned back and smiled a little, clicking it shut a few moments after.

Jeff was now alone again, leaving him alone in the dark, laying back on the couch, a bottle of water in hand, his feet dangling off the end with a good amount of leg uncomfortably perched over the arm.

He looked down and realised he was still in clothes from the night before so he took the time when Annie was still getting ready for sleep to change into something more comfortable, shuffling through his bag to grab an old grey t-shirt and his sweatpants, unbuckling his belt and shoving off his jeans as quickly as possible in case Annie burst back in on him. Not that he’d really mind her seeing what he worked so hard to perfect, but he’d rather avoid that kind of awkward moment when it wasn’t exactly clear where things were going with them.

He threw himself down on the couch again before picking up his phone from the floor to scroll through it, taking longer than usual to type in his password just so he could admire his lock screen; it was a cropped shot of a group photo Frankie had taken of them after they’d all met back up at the study room that night, the crop focusing on himself and Annie, her head tucked into his side, a wide grin across her face as he looked down at her with an equally a huge smile, his eyebrow raised as he questioned what she was laughing at before the picture had been taken.

He flicked through a couple of notifications, checking in on a message from Britta that he had expected at some point during the day…

* * *

 

 _BRITTA:_  Is Annie okay? Why are you in DC? Was it someone at the FBI? Is this a conspiracy!??

 _JEFF:_  Some moron with no brain in his head tried to have ‘some fun’ with her outside of a bar last night. She’s fine, went to ER from a panic attack.

 _BRITTA:_  OMG! I hate men. Ugh. Why did they call you though? Also when are you coming back?

 _JEFF:_  Err… thanks? I don’t know, I guess they just used my number? I also don’t know that either, we’ll see.

 _BRITTA:_  *suspicious eyes emoticon* Hmm

 _JEFF:_  What’s that supposed to mean?

 _BRITTA:_  Are you staying at hers?

 _JEFF:_???

 _BRITTA:_ Careful Winger.

 _JEFF:_  Shut up, you still owe her rent.

 _BRITTA:_ Hmm… g’night.

* * *

 

…before having a search around for gyms nearby just in case the stay became long enough to warrant needing daily workouts. He was zoned out for a few minutes so he hadn’t noticed Annie walking in, counting her breaths as she creeped around the room, holding a hand to the wall. She had no idea that he was still awake seeing as it had been enough time for him to drift off, so they were both left a little startled when they caught each other’s attentions.

“Annie?! What are you doing?” Jeff shrieked at first as she brushed past the coffee table, her whole body flinching back as she noticed his tiny screen casting a horrific light across his face, somehow not unflattering.

“Ah! Oh sorry I didn’t realise you were still up and… I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d get some water. Sorry for… startling you.” Jeff could hear the unsteadiness of her breathing, the darkness of the room causing her to flit around, sudden noises and movements causing her to clench onto the nearest item to her side. Jeff scrambled up, using his phone for guidance to the light switch on the wall.

“Are you okay?” Jeff’s face was full of the same concern he’d shown throughout the day, just with the added emphasis of the exhaustion in his face from not sleeping in almost twenty-four hours… which Annie supposed was sort of one of his ideas coming to life; he was staying up all night on accident.

“Yeah, yeah… I just… every time I close my eyes that’s all I can think of, which is ridiculous, because obviously it’s _really_ not that big of a deal, right? I mean, I can’t even remember what he looked like so, you know, really I’m overreacting. I’ll just go to sleep and it’ll be fine, you’re right and you can go to sleep now too I mean you look exhausted… not like, _you_ look exhausted I just mean, you probably are, right? Okay…” Annie pursed her lips together for a second, her eyelashes fluttering but not quite closing, before she mouthed the final part of her panicked monologue, “… _I’m just going to go._ ”

Jeff stood in front of her, tilting his head at the exhausted comment before his own eyelashes quivered for a second, the sight of Annie breaking down in front of him feeling like a punch to the gut more than the fact that he probably had visible circles under his eyes for the first time in a few months (by visible, he meant literally _visible,_ as he’d been covering them up every now and again with a bit of concealer, adding to the fact that he was definitely not getting any younger).

“You’re not overreacting. It’s going to take time, and you just have to realise that… even if that means having to sleep with the light on a for a couple of weeks or maybe _not_ bursting in on your guest when you don’t know whether they’re asleep or not… it doesn’t make you any less of a person if it takes a while. Okay?”

Annie’s brow twitched as she agreed with him, taking a deep swallow and breath before turning back around and walking herself to her door, not realising that Jeff was just a couple of steps behind before she turned to close it.

“Oh I err, I can stand by until you’re actually, knocked out or whatever… if you want.” Annie nodded hesitantly before walking off inside the room, leaving Jeff to lean against the small wall that created a bit of an alcove by the door, tucked away from view as she attempted to drift off again. He crossed over his arms, looking to his wrist before remembering his watch was now in amongst his belongings on Annie’s living room floor.

Annie lay on one side of the bed, her hair splayed out similarly to how it had started the day, pointed out in different directions as she tried to focus on something other than a stranger’s pair of lips on hers.

The sad truth of it was that Jeff was the last person who’d kissed her before it had all happened, and now she could barely remember what that had felt like. Of course she could remember it being slow, and dreamy and full of love and admiration, but the actual taste and feel of his lips was hard to recreate in her mind.

After a while she realised that Jeff standing crossed armed by the door whilst she attempted to drift off, wasn’t really working… and it certainly wasn’t working for him either as his feet started to ache and his eyes started to droop in the darkness.

 _“Jeff?_ ” Annie whispered, trying to work out whether he was still actually there or not.

“Yeah?” He piped up, poking his head around the corner.

“You don’t have to be here… you can go or stay or whatever but I feel weird you just standing there.” Jeff almost sighed in relief, turning himself all the way around the corner now, squinting at Annie through the dim light, as she propped herself up on her elbows.

“I agree.”

Annie paused, looking at the space next to her with the perfectly untouched and plumped up pillow… the blanket at the end of the bed just about large enough to cover a six-foot four giant…

“You can err, lay here if you want. You kind of looked uncomfortable on that couch anyway.” Annie pouted her lips to the side, as Jeff contemplated the set-up. Finally, the tired part of his brain outweighed the common sense side, wiping out the idea of sleeping just inches away from Annie for possibly more than one night… he hoped the gulp he’d just taken wasn’t as loud as he’d heard it in his head.

“You’re right, my feet were getting pretty cramped up on that thing.” Annie nodded again before slipping down into the sheets a little further, turning onto one side as he slowly walked over to the bed, brushing a fingertip over the duvet before propping himself up as close to the edge as possible without toppling over and off.

Once he was comfortable, Annie mumbled a short good night as he lay still, trying not to break any teeth as he clenched his jaw tightly. He was acting like a teenage boy sharing a bed on a school trip with his high school crush… they were both adults, they could handle this.

It wasn’t as if he wanted to reach out a hand and run it over the curve of her hip as she curled up… or tuck a stray bit of hair behind her ear. Nope. No thoughts of that whatsoever.

Annie was also having rather similar thoughts at the fact that Jeff was currently on her bed. Maybe he’d sat on the edge of her bed at the 303 apartment but the feeling in her chest at the thought of them being so close couldn’t be ignored for much longer.

It _was_ helping her forget about the visions and flashbacks though; every time something popped up in her head, like the feeling of finger nails digging into skin, she’d just shuffle a bit, the weight of Jeff beside her clearing her mind for a few seconds more.

* * *

 

Jeff wasn’t quite sure how long it had been, but he’d made an effort not to drift off himself until he was certain Annie’s breathing was steady and her eyes were shut tight before actually letting himself go, the travel and stress of the day finally catching up on him. Just as he allowed himself the luxury of sleep though, Annie turned onto the opposite side, and he was pretty sure a tiny part of his heart had just melted.

The sight of her curled up beside him was enough for him to close his eyes immediately, the image taking a rather long time to burn out of his retinas. That’s when a slight pressure caught his breath, his eyes widening at the fact that Annie’s hand was now slipping across his torso, her body moving in a way that suggested she was completely out of control of her sleeping self.

Jeff’s face twisted in response, his chest becoming warmer, his teeth clenching together even more than he thought was possible. He sent a quick prayer up to whatever God most people believed in, in the hopes that Annie wouldn’t wake up at the sound of his heart against her ear that was now inches away from tucking into the side of him.

A hand shot out from his side to flick the light off, closing his eyes in the darkness, trying his best to remain calm whilst Annie was quite frankly cuddling up to him. If he was thinking _ir_ rationally, he would have put a hand on the little dip in her hip by now and would have pressed another kiss to her hair, but luckily even with that tired side of his mind, he remained calm and used all of his mental strength not too.

For someone so bulky and physically strong, he sure as heck had to use a lot of power not to react to certain situations… especially when it came to Annie.


	3. So I Don't Lose You Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So I have no idea whether you are actually enjoying this seeing as Chapter 2 didn't have much of a response, but seeing as I already have this one done, here you go! Let me know what you think in the comments... again, I'm not sure where I'm going with this, it was just an idea and I'm rolling with it. Enjoy!)

When they both woke the next morning, Annie’s arm was still curled over Jeff’s torso, his legs and feet in amongst a warm twist of fluffy fabric. He’d slouched down during the night, leaving Annie’s head propped up in-between his arm, his sleeping mind betraying him as his fingers curled up around the hem of her pyjama t-shirt.

The morning light flooded the room through the small window above Annie’s dressing table, both of them starting to adjust to the start of a new day. Annie’s first thought was one of confusion as she looked down at their bodies side-by-side; hers tucked in underneath the duvet, with Jeff stretched out on top.

She’d only ever seen Jeff sleeping once or twice before but when she had, she’d always found the curve of his nose quite mesmerising. It was the one part of his body (that she knew of) that she would define as ‘cute’ rather than handsome or ridiculously attractive… it was just perfectly hooked up at the end, placed beneath two perfectly blue eyes that always grew darker when he did his little smile that she’d only ever noticed was for her.

She didn’t dare look for too long as his face started to twitch, just in case he woke to her staring contently. He did eventually wake up, the knuckle of his thumb pressing into his eye as he adjusted himself fully, looking down at the scene below, instinctively removing his arm to prop his chin up with his hand to disguise the awkwardness.

Jeff smiled with a bit of an eyebrow quirk before Annie moved away, leaving his side feeling very open and slightly cooler than it had been before. Her shoulders hunched inwards as she sat up, taming a few fingers through her hair.

Jeff smirked to himself before crossing his arms over, thinking of something to say that made the fact that they’d ‘slept’ together seem more casual.

“So… do I make a good pillow?” Annie turned her head and laughed under her breath, a rush of embarrassment flashing over her face.

“Yeah… sorry about that… I guess I must have just rolled over in my sleep.”

“I know; I was still awake when it happened.” Her cheeks were slowly growing more and more flushed as Jeff just stared back with a rather large smile on his face, confusing her once again as to why he would be so calm about the scenario.

“Oh… well, you could have stopped me.” Jeff just shrugged, his smile staying in place.

“I’m not really complaining, I got an _Annie_ blanket.” Annie rolled her eyes at the comment, covering one side of her face with her hand.

“Was I _‘warm’_ enough for you?” She was pretty sure his smile grew even larger at the quotation marks she’d thrown up in the air around the word ‘warm’… _Stop looking so handsomely smug._

“You were actually. In fact, I’d be happy to have you back because I’m getting kind of cold.” Another pair of rolled eyes were shot his way, the genuine seriousness of his statement obviously not quite getting through to her as she climbed out of bed and left Jeff alone, his smile subsiding as she locked herself in the bathroom.

* * *

 

“Are you sure you’re okay with going out already?” Jeff asked as he stood by the door, tying up his laces in preparation for a trip to fill up Annie’s refrigerator.

“I’ll be fine, I can’t not do anything for now and forever.” Annie took a deep breath, slipping a single button through its hole on her blazer. She’d usually wear a skirt with this combo but she wasn’t feeling quite that confident just yet, so jeans and a pair of flats would have to do. Jeff was surprised how good she still looked even after being so shaken up; her hair pinned back into a tiny quiff that framed her face perfectly.

“No, no, you need to rephrase that. You’re Annie, it’s more like… I can’t not do anything, period.” Annie huffed, appreciating his comment deep down but not the cheeky smile on his face that he’d been pulling since they’d woken up intertwined.

“Oh wait, here’s a key by the way… for emergencies.” Annie said, stretching over from where she was stood, the keys dangling from her fingertips.

“What kind of emergency are you expecting where I end up needing a key?” Jeff asked, ignoring the heat that grew on his neck as their hands brushed in mid-air.

“I don’t know… the one where I kick you out for that stupid face you keep pulling.” Jeff tilted his head, not removing said stupid face or even making an attempt to.

“What stupid face? Also, why would you give me a key if you wanted to kick me out?”

“ _That_ one! And because… what happens if I die? I’ll need someone to be able to come and collect my body.”

“What? This face counts as stupid now? I’m just smiling! Also, Annie, you forget who you’re talking about here; I could knock that door down in one kick, I don’t need a key to do it for me.” Annie brushed past Jeff with her shoulder, trying to ignore his face once again as she opened up the door that he was so confident he could get open with his own ~~hands~~ feet.

Although she was out of the door before Jeff was finally ready, she waited right outside, still not one hundred percent sold on the idea of walking alone, even if he was only a moment behind.

“You do realise I’m not going to smile the entire day now. You can’t say something like that and _not_ offend me.”

“That’s not that true, you’re still smiling now.” Jeff immediately dropped his face and shrugged, trying to keep face as straight as possible as Annie turned around and walked on at a slow pace, wincing slightly as a neighbour slammed a door.

* * *

 

Everything was okay until Jeff slipped out of view down one of the vegetable aisles. For someone so tall Annie had expected to be able to look up and see his spiked up mop of hair poking out from behind a stall, but he was nowhere to be seen. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing for a second, her finger nails digging into the palms of her hands as she stepped closer towards the aisle of products behind her.

Either way her heart rate wasn’t decreasing because stepping backwards reminded her of being pressed up against the sharp and icy bricks outside of the bar, and stepping forwards just added to the possibilities of someone taking advantage of her. _It won’t happen again… someone would have to be super creepy to do it in a grocery store…_

A few people started to look at her oddly as her eyes flickered around, trying to catch onto anything that looked remotely Jeff-like. She was about to slip her shaking hand into her purse to call him, but as if by magic he stepped around the corner, his devious grin long gone as his own panic set in. He caught onto her eye sight, pacing quickly towards her, the shopping cart just skimming her toes.

“Annie, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just err… didn’t know where you went and it’s silly… I could have just looked around the corner…” She shook her head as she’d been doing quite a lot since Wednesday night, trying her best to make it look like she really was doing just fine.

“Yeah I know, some guy wanted me to get something off a top shelf which is crazy because he wasn’t even that much shorter than me, so… you don’t have much left to get, do you?”

“No, no…” Annie pulled the strap of her purse a little closer from the curve of her shoulder, letting her hair swing down into her face as she turned away, keeping just centimetres away from the cart even though every now and again she’d be jolted with a static shock.

Jeff slowed down a little as she picked a few things off of a shelf, pouting in thought over a few details on the back of a packet, placing it down beneath a good weeks’ worth of food that would usually last her two (she was buying for Jeff now too, right?). As he did, he took the opportunity of her empty hands to clasp one of them with his, making her look up, the same confused expression from the morning planted across her face.

“So I don’t lose you again.” Annie nodded, before looking away, trying not to focus on Jeff’s words. For some reason what he’d said was now reminding her of their kiss in the study room… it wasn’t what she wanted to be focusing on right now, but maybe it was just one of those times when she needed to allow herself to be distracted.

So maybe she should just go along with the comment an elderly lady had just ‘whispered’ as they walked by… _“Oooh, what a lovely couple… holding hands in the grocery store… ah, reminds me of the good old days!”_

Annie looked up and was about to let out some sort of quiet laugh but she was greeted with a face Jeff had started showing a lot more in the past year… one that was a mix of shock, fear and almost understanding. She couldn’t quite read exactly what he was thinking, so she let the laugh slide and carried on gradually working her way to the checkout, Jeff’s hand and the shopping cart in tow.

* * *

 

The technique of holding Jeff’s hand had somehow worked, her anxiety staying put even when a couple of teens rushed past her in a frantic dash of motion. They were back at apartment 701 now, Annie relieving some excess stress through the organisation of her small kitchen cabinets; placing items perfectly in line with each other, in order of use-by-date.

Jeff had creeped in behind her as she’d started to finish up, stretching up over her head in attempt at finding some form of liquid that wasn’t water or freshly squeezed orange juice.

“What are you doing?” Annie asked, crouching down slightly to slip under the arc of his arms, some empty shopping bags in hand.

“Do you not have _any_ booze?” Annie rolled her eyes behind his back, keeping in a remark about it only being about eleven forty-five in the morning.

“First of all, I don’t really drink that often; second of all, it happened outside of a bar so… alcohol isn’t exactly on my mind right now and _third_ of all, I wasn’t really expecting a ‘scotchaholic’ to be in my apartment this week.” Jeff spun around, taking note of Annie’s ‘judgey’ face that she was currently using.

“All valid points except the last one… I’m not a ‘scotchaholic’, I just _enjoy_ scotch. You can’t really talk either Miss ‘Appletini’.”

“That’s _exactly_ what a ‘scotchaholic’ would say! Also… I drink _real_ martinis now.”

“No you don’t.” Jeff flicked his chin up slightly, squinting in suspicion.

“I do! But… the closest thing you’ll find to ‘booze’ in here at the moment is the rubbing alcohol under my sink.”

“Ha, ha.” Jeff sighed before slumping himself down into ‘his’ couch, Annie chucking him some form of healthy wrap of salad and chicken they’d picked up as an early lunch. Annie also slumped down on the arm chair opposite, letting out a sigh that had probably being brewing since she’d woken up.

“Are you okay?” Jeff asked as he unwrapped his lunch, double checking the calorie count on the outside before actually taking a bite.

“Isn’t that like the fiftieth time you’ve asked me that?” Annie asked with a questioning smile as Jeff dug into his food.

“I dunno’ I jush wanna’ know in caysh you’re not.” Jeff mumbled as he ate, a few tiny specks of food dropping down into his beard, making Annie cringe… but she took the idea and I spoke with her mouthful the same, not denying the fact that it was quite amusing to hear Jeff speak in food-filled gibberish.

“I’m fine if you mush know.” Jeff laughed a little before continuing to eat, leaving them in a bit of a lull on either side of the room.

But the truth was, even after only a day or so, Annie was already starting to feel fed up of saying she was okay. Jeff’s intentions of being there for her were perfectly acceptable, and she truly did appreciate it, but she wasn’t quite sure if she was able to actually talk to him about much of the happenings.

Every time a thought would pop into her head, she’d go to say something but she’d gulp it down because this was Jeff… he didn’t _deal_ with this kind of stuff. And how much of it would he really be willing to hear? At what point would he get fed up and feel useless? It really didn’t benefit the situation that with all of this and with him (so far) being so nice, there was still that underlying reminder of what had been said in the study room.

She knew it had meant _something_ and that from now on she wasn’t just imagining the ‘Annie-of-it-all’. Jeff had quite literally admitted that his heart wanted her, but he’d let her go… but that’s the part she didn’t quite understand.

Why? And, what did that even mean?

Although those questions created a great distractive thought, they also paid an emotional price as Annie’s mind started to spin… her hands becoming clammy and the bruise she’d only just discovered on the left side of her neck starting to pulse violently. Jeff noticed her hand reach up to it, her eyes opening in closing in time with her breathing.

“I, err, think I might just go and… take a nap.” She got up, gradually steadying herself before walking towards her door, a tiny voice inside of her head hopeful that Jeff would stop her… _I need you._

“Annie… come here.” Jeff put his half-finished wrap down on the side before lifting his arm up onto the back of the couch, tilting his head in the direction of the space next to him. Annie bobbed her head before shyly tucking herself in next to him,

“What are you thinking about?” Jeff asked quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder, his thumb tracing small circles on her back.

“Just… everything… the thing is I could probably be back at my internship and be my bright and usual self right now but… you’re right. I need to take a break; it just _infuriates_ me when I _know_ I could be doing better.”

“Yeah well then you know what you’ve got to do. You just have to forget about it for a second. You’ve been working your socks off for the past however many years… I mean, when was the last time you actually gave yourself time to just… sit down?”

“That’s kind of what I’ve been trying to do this whole past year. I’ve been trying to focus on me, and only me but I guess that comes with consequences.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know… I suppose after we saved Greendale, I just… decided to get my life together again. I just started to sit back a bit and forget about all of this other stuff. But then I lost track of what was really important to me and then I was applying for an internship and here I am. I guess I didn’t really prepare myself… and now this has happened and… this was just _not_ the plan.”

Jeff’s thumb stopped it’s circling at the mention of saving Greendale. It made sense really… they’d hardly spent much time alone since the events of their fifth year as a group.

For Jeff it was mainly because he didn’t want to have to think about it all that much. He wanted to pretend like nothing had happened for a while just in case, maybe, just maybe, the thoughts would go away as if they really _had_ never happened.

Of course that hadn’t worked and it had all just piled up on top of him. He’d let her go because he was too engrossed in how it was effecting him personally, to realise how it might be effecting _her._

“Somethings you can’t plan… just like how I never planned to walk into the study room and see you all sat the table. I didn’t plan that, it just happened… sometimes things happen for good and sometimes things happen for bad, but I guess, even if you don’t want to believe in it, everything really does happen for a reason. So… maybe this happening is a way of the world just telling you to let things slow down for a second.

Maybe, you _are_ meant to be focusing on all of this other stuff. I’m not saying that this should have happened, because I would rather not be here right now for the reason I am. I’d rather be here because you invited me or… I don’t know, because I wanted a vacation. But life is full of crap, and you just have to deal with it at the pace it wants to be dealt with.

You could say that jerk from my old lawyer firm ratted me out because I needed to be taught a lesson. And quite frankly I’m glad he did because I would never have met you guys… sure, the pace I’ve had to deal with it has been a little slower than I’d hoped but, there have been a lot of upsides to these six years.

So, maybe there’s some bigger meaning to it all. Sure your path was a little shaken it up due to Greendale but maybe you needed something _real_ to disturb things. And it’s not a big deal if you need someone there to come help pick up the pieces. It turns out I needed six different people to help me, so just one is obviously saying something.

If there’s one person I know who could get through it and still be fine on the other side… it’s you.”

Annie didn’t even make an attempt to interrupt him through his speech. She knew exactly what he meant and maybe he was right… of course what happened was wrong and of course she would still seriously like to do some damage to the guy who had caused it all, but maybe there was a reason for it all happening at this point in time.

Perhaps the point of it all was a way of her showing herself and everyone around her that she was finally her own person and that she could handle this, alone, in Washington DC… with an added helping hand of Jeff in the mix too.

Perhaps there was a point to his presence as well? Annie forced that thought out of her mind for another day, but with Jeff’s monologue still fresh in her mind, it didn’t seem that crazy to think about…

“Are you still up for denying that you have a heart?” Jeff scoffed with a smile as Annie took note of his thumb resuming its swirling path across the back of her shoulder.

“I still might be up for that nap actually, I read online that you can get awful migraines after shock, so I think I might attempt to sleep this one out.”

“Only _you_ would have time to research these things.”

“Well the nurse told me too.” Annie was sat up now, tucking some stray hairs behind her ears, making Jeff’s eyes widen with a smile.

“You can stay here you know… I’ll put something on the TV when you’re actually asleep.” Annie nodded shyly after contemplating the offer, before tucking herself down again, Jeff’s hand placing itself back so naturally against her arm.

“You don’t need me to sing, do you?” Jeff teased, tilting his head with a smirk.

“Oh god no.”

All Jeff could do was laugh.


	4. You're A Bad Liar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I thought I'd publish this a little earlier in celebration of the fact that I just finished up a very important chapter to this story and I feel kinda' chuffed. This one is a bit of a fluffy filler chapter if I'm honest. I think this story needed some light in it... especially before the next chapter! Let me know what you think as usual. Enjoy! Leave any comments thoughts below as usual.)

It was now a few days later and Annie’s normal self was starting to slowly but surely seep back into her. It was definitely a gradual shift, and she was nowhere near back on top form, but Jeff had started to notice a few things here and there that seemed a bit more Annie.

A few occurrences had started to become their norm too, like Annie ‘accidentally’ rolling over to Jeff’s side of the bed that he now occupied (insisting to lie _on top_ of the sheets – _“It’s stuffy in here already.”_ ) or just casually watching Netflix together with her feet propped up in his lap, sometimes even a hand would work its way to her ankle giving it a very gentle rub of some sorts.

Neither one of them mentioned this small, almost insignificant shift in the way things worked whilst Jeff was around, because neither one of them really wanted to complain. Jeff had always been right; they worked well together, they were indeed a perfect duet and they could spend hours in each other’s company and hey, maybe they would be end up being just as good as great seeee… _Hey Professor Whitman!_

Jeff had decided he would stay as long as she needed or at least until she could leave the house unaccompanied without her brain malfunctioning. Annie had nodded when he’d discussed the topic, agreeing on the idea but wary of the fact that it could be _months_ at the rate of which she was feeling… _You’d have to leave at some point? You can’t stay here forever… as much as I’d like that… maybe?_

Luckily for Jeff he hadn’t received anymore snide remarks from Britta, and Abed had just been his usual self, being as supportive as he could be… although he had slipped in _just the one_ comment about this being a usual romantic trope on TV or in movies (he’d only sent that one to Jeff, just in case it came across the wrong way to Annie with her vulnerable state of mind).

Neither him nor Annie had mentioned anything to Frankie or the Dean but they were both certain the news would reach them sometime soon with Britta’s lack of gossip control.

The only real weight on either of their minds now was the time spent waiting for a call from the cops asking Annie to come in to answer some questions. She hadn’t been able to answer much after it had all kicked off, and as soon as they had arrived she’d been taken straight off to ER with a panic attack.

She knew she’d be receiving a call anytime soon so whenever her phone buzzed her heart rate jumped and her mind started to replay the whole thing. With the suspense of it all, Jeff decided it was best they did something to distract her, and with the amount of clothes he’d rushed to pack in, the most enjoyable (for him at least) and practical idea he had was to go on some form of a shopping spree.

* * *

 

When they’d arrived at the Chevy Chase Pavilion, Jeff was stuck with the choice of J.Crew which was the closest he was going to get to his usual expectations of quality. As soon as he’d stepped in the door he could sense the difference but with price tags at the same as Annie’s rent, she couldn’t see why he was complaining (or even in the shop for the first place).

“I could really annoy you right now and do an Abed…” Annie said, her voice trailing off to inform him that she was _totally_ about to do an Abed.

“Don’t.”

“ _Jeff Winger, in his natural habitat, perusing through aisles of Italian cotton and thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes that he will only ever wear once.”_ Annie was crouching her neck down as she followed him closely behind, her fingers waving around by her face… it was kind of amusing but every now and again she’d have to break out of the act to check who was (not) following behind her.

“If I buy you a pretty dress from over there, will you shut up?” Jeff teased, raising his eyebrows whilst pointing a hanger that he already had in his hand over to the women’s section of the store. Annie rolled her eyes and dropped her hands, still keeping within two steps of him, _just in case._

“You can’t bribe me with nice clothes Jeff. I’m not like you… one of those dresses could probably pay my rent next month so if you really want, you can give me the money and I’ll spend it on something more useful.” Jeff was now the one rolling his eyes, stuffing a hand in his jean pocket as he watched her make a genuinely good point.

“So, if I give you the money does that mean you’ll shut up?”

“Nope.”

“Ah, see that’s the thing. It would have to be a guarantee that your mouth will stay zipped for the rest of the time I’m here.”

“No deal.” Annie smiled back at him, noticing that he’d given up at least five minutes ago as he flicked through different sizes of a navy blue shirt. She wasn’t quite sure why he was looking through the formalwear but she made the mental note to genuinely shut up this time.

Her fingers brushed across a few different variations of shirts and sweaters, her thoughts trailing back to the last time she’d really been shopping. If she remembered rightly, the last proper purchase she’d made was of some white blouses, a blazer and a skirt for her internship… nothing fancy or indulgent, and to be honest with the rate she was wearing them, she’d probably be buying some more next week.

She hadn’t really been thinking but all of a sudden she was over in the women’s department on her own accord, her fingers now flicking through a few more appealing items of clothing, a couple of colours catching her eye but nothing too fancy.

Jeff had a good arm full of clothes in his hands now, picking out a bit too much as he always found the trying on process more satisfactory than the actual buying and for once he wasn’t hiding out or rushing just in case the Dean pounced on him during a ‘Craigular Joe’ outing.

He looked around and noticed Annie was nowhere to be seen, something catching in his throat that he’d lost her or she’d run away in panic. But there she was, in the corner of his eye, casually browsing something that was probably more interesting than a pair of jeans he didn’t really need.

He wondered over, leaning over a rail as she did her thing. It was interesting for him to see her in her element outside of Greendale, and interning and all of the stresses from the past few days. As he watched on without her noticing, he could tell she was definitely interested in a specific style of dress as she held a couple of different shades up to her.

It was a simple little dress with a V style neck-line that cut-out as straps instead of sleeves, with a tiny bit of a nipped in waist and skirt that would probably fall just above her knees off the hanger.

Jeff personally couldn’t see the appeal, but only because he had a thing for her in florals and more colourful numbers, but she seemed to be drawn to a very pale shell pink that would probably look drop dead gorgeous with the tiny bit of a tan she’d obviously picked up from her daily commute to work in the past few weeks.

“I can buy it if you want.” Annie jumped back a little, the dress still pressed up to her as if she were trying it on. She gulped slightly, her eyes pressing tight, Jeff suddenly feeling rather guilty for startling her.

“What? Err, how long have you been there? Are you done?”

“What? No, I have to try it all on.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re worse than most women.” Jeff noticed Annie sliding the dress back onto the rail, realising that she hadn’t heard what he’d said before.

“I said I can buy that for you if you want.” Annie finally looked up, every word being heard clearly.

“What? No, no, it’s fine, don’t worry. I mean it’s okay, but one, I could never pull it off and two, it’s price tag is $140, so I think I’ll pass.”

“You do realise when somebody _offers_ to pay for something, you’re not meant to turn them off the idea… and you could one hundred percent pull it off, no doubt about it.” Annie’s eyes flicked to the ground shyly at the comment, her eyes rolling slightly as she looked back up.

“I do appreciate the offer and I appreciate your compliment but seriously, it’s _fine._ I don’t need some overly priced piece of fabric hanging in my wardrobe like _some_ people.”

“Hey, for once I do actually have an excuse because I hardly packed anything on the way out here." Annie rolled her eyes again but suddenly stopped short as she felt something or some _one_ pushing up behind her. Jeff suddenly realised he zoned out of their surroundings and that feeling of guilt came back to the surface as she started to pant a little frantically.

The guy who was walking past was an employee pulling a rail of clothing behind her, but it was all enough for her to be triggered again and the fact that the guy who was now eyeing her with a weird look, wasn’t really helping.

“Hey, Annie… Annie…” Jeff jogged around the rail that was separating them, holding her shoulders as firmly as he could without all of the clothes propped between his elbow slipping away into an avalanche of multi-coloured material.

“Annie, breathe, hey, come on, let’s go sit you down. Breathe, okay, just breathe.” His words were muffled in her ear though, only the sound of her breath and the drum of her heart beat being heard amongst the wave of noises around her.

Jeff was guiding her towards the men’s fitting rooms, trying to avoid anyone who was staring his way. Before Annie knew it, she was on a stall in the corner of a curtained cubicle, Jeff crouched down before her, all of the clothes he’d picked out now hanging up on a rack.

“Hey, hey, Annie, are you okay? Just breathe okay, you’re fine… I should have told you someone was coming, okay, I’m sorry… just breathe.”

So she did.

* * *

 

It took her a while, but finally after a few minutes her hearing was becoming clearer and her sight less fuzzy and all of a sudden she could feel every movement around her, especially the heat of Jeff’s hands on the side of her arms, brushing up and down comfortingly.

Then, it was all too much and Annie’s eyes were full of tears, her eyes avoiding Jeff’s as his face filled with concern.

“Is my make-up all smudged?” Annie asked, her voice coming out kind of croaky, but it didn’t matter because Jeff was just relieved to hear it. Jeff tilted his head, his lip pouting out a bit as he assessed the tear-induced damage.

“Hmm… a little, but you’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.” Annie brushed her thumb under her eye before finally making eye contact with him.

“I’m sorry. That was really embarrassing.”

“What? No, it’s fine, it’s not your fault… it’s mine, I should have you warned you.” Annie shook her head, letting out one last whimper.

“It’s not _your_ fault.”

“Well then it’s neither of our faults. Look, it’s _fine,_ you’re okay, that’s all that matters. I… look, you either ignore me right now or you listen to whatever crap I’m about to make-up off of the top of my head, okay?

My only idea I have is that, if somebody walks up behind you or comes too close or whatever… you just… err, look, you’re attractive, right? You are, and I’ll admit that, because I’m definitely not the only person who believes it, but… not everyone’s going to find you attractive… so when somebody does come a little close, just think to yourself, that you’re not the most… gorgeous person in the world to everyone.

So… not everyone is going to want to take advantage of that. I’m not in any way saying that the reason that guy did what he did was because you’re attractive… like I said, this is really coming from the top of my head and if Britta was here right now she’d probably slap me around the head with a frying pan but that’s beside the point…

Just think about that when somebody walks too close, or decides to push a clothing rack up behind you… because that’s basically the only reason that guy did what he did… well, actually, that’s not true, he did it because he’s a creep who thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants, but… basically just ignore everything I’m saying and you’ll be fine.”

They both just snorted, looking at each other for a second before Annie decided to speak up.

“I _think_ I get what you’re saying… but you’re probably right, if Britta were here she would most definitely slap you around the head with a frying pan… or worse, _two_ frying pans and maybe she’d just shoot you down with a gun at the same time. But… I think I know what you mean. Like… not everyone who comes up close is going to want to put their hands on me?”

“Yeah, I probably could have just said that.” Annie laughed a little, looking away before her mind raced back to something Jeff had said in his fast paced rant.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah…” Jeff replied hesitatntly.

“Did you… kind of just admit you think I’m… the ‘most gorgeous person in the world’?” Annie asked, her eyes squinting suspiciously as she air quoted the title.

Jeff rolled his neck back and opened his mouth a little before speaking, trying to hide the smirking smile that was creeping across his face.

“No....?” Jeff said, adding a very uncontrollable question mark.

Annie’s faced scrunched up with an embarrassed smile, looking down at her hands.

 _“You’re a bad liar.”_  She almost whispered, making Jeff look down with a twisted smile too.

“I guess my lawyer days are kind of wearing off, huh?”

And there it was again, for both of them… that warm fuzzy feeling that prickled all the way up their necks and into their chests, a feeling that only ever appeared when they looked each other in the eyes and shared some kind of ‘moment’. Annie broke it first though, looking up at the wall of potential purchases for Jeff Winger’s closet.

“Are you seriously going to change with me in here?” Jeff jolted his head back at the question.

“I’m going to pretend not to be offended by that question.”

“What?!” Annie’s voice squeaked, not quite understanding what he meant.

“Well Annie, most women don’t tend to turn down the opportunity of being in closer quarters with a shirtless Jeff Winger.”

“Ugh, you’re so vain.”

“Am not… and if I am, I have every right to be.” Jeff stood up and waved a hand down his torso, making Annie cringe and turn towards the corner a little bit.

She tried her damn hardest to look away but of course she couldn’t resist a peak as he stretched his sweater up and over his head, his hair fluffing up slightly at the back. Her lips pursed inwards as he stood turning it the right way around, his back still facing her. She was now one hundred percent ogling every inch of his muscular physique… every tiny curve and edge making her eyes bulge slightly further.

It was as if Jeff could sense her eyes burning through him, so he just had to turn around and show off the good stuff, trying to act as if she wasn’t there.

“Oh _my_ god.” Annie blurted out in an almost low moaning voice, making Jeff’s eyes shoot at her. It wasn’t necessarily what she’d said, but more _how_ she’d said it that had startled him. He tilted his eyebrow, Annie trying to keep her eyes off of the little creases that were forming around his neck as he looked at her, puzzled.

“What did you just say?”

“What? Oh, haha, no, I can just tell the only reason you turned around is because you _wanted_ to show yourself off.”

“Is that such a big deal?” Jeff asked, once again, waving his hands down his now uncovered torso.  Annie rolled her eyes, shielding her face as she felt heat grow in her cheeks. Jeff just smiled some more, revelling in her obvious state of fluster.

As he pulled on his first shirt option, he couldn’t help but push her further.

“Oh come, like you don’t find me attractive.”

“What?! I never said that.” Annie shrieked again, now using two hands to cover her ever reddening face.

“Ah… but you’re not denying it.” Jeff was now buttoning up a shirt, so there wasn’t really much to look away from, but Annie’s hands were still glued to her cheeks.

“I… I didn’t… I don’t. I’ve dated much better looking guys.” Annie finally dropped her hands but kept her eyes firmly shut, crossing her arms over her chest. Jeff’s mouth opened up a little, unsure whether to believe her or not.

“Vaughn? Tiny nipples? Seriously?”

“What? No, I mean, he was… attractive, but I have dated other guys you know.”

“Oh yeah, like who?”

“That’s none of your business! _And,_ I’m _not_ making that up. I have dated other people outside of Greendale.”

“How come we never met them then?” _Because you’d be jealous and mess things up…_ Annie immediately thought, but that wasn’t the full truth, the real reason was…

“I don’t know, because I never really liked any of them. We’d go on like two dates and then that would be it. End of.” Jeff pouted, not understanding how anyone would turn down a third date with Annie… and not just because she’s attractive, but because she’s smart and funny, and strange, and interesting and strong, and all of these things that were now distracting him from deciding on whether this first shirt suited him or not.

“What do you think?”

“If I open my eyes, you have to promise me that you are fully clothed. Deal?”

“Ugh, I promise.”

Annie slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with a sight that was definitely not _not_ attractive. She tilted her head, before shaking it realising that a grin was creeping across Jeff’s face at her accidental yet rather obvious ogling. She’d seen him a navy shirt before… it was his kind of colour… of course it suited him.

 _“You’re a bad liar.”_  Jeff whispered, mimicking Annie’s earlier comment.

“What?”

“You _are_ attracted to me. You always have been.”

“That’s not true!” Jeff tilted his head again, sticking his tongue to the inside of his cheek as she tried her hardest to stand her ground.

“It’s not true! You have no proof.”

“Fine, then get out.” His demand shocked her a little, a look of confusion on her face.

“Get out.”

“Oh, you’re serious?”

“Yeah, kinda’. I’m also going to be trying on pants so unless you want to see my package… which, actually I would have no problem with because I’m sure it’s great to look at… you should probably get out.” Annie’s face scrunched at the mention of 'his package' before she genuinely did scurry out, standing right outside in case she had to burst right back in at any given moment.

The real reason he’d made her vacate the small secluded space of the fitting room was so he could actually compile some kind of outfit that she would have no way of doing anything but admitting he looked good in. So, a few minutes later, he poked his head out of the room and found Annie still standing there, watching closely at anybody walking in and out.

“What about this?” Jeff said, making her head zip round, her eyes widening slightly at the full look…

He’d swapped out the navy blue shirt for a crisp white one with blue underlining poking out where the buttons met, and under the epaulettes that accentuated his shoulders, matching an equally sharp pair of navy pants, combined with his lace up boot shoes. It wasn’t as if he was wearing a full top and tails suits, but there was officially no way to hide the fact that he looked damn-fine any longer.

Jeff just smirked, because to be honest it was probably the biggest ego kick he’d ever been given. It wasn’t the fact that she had tried to deny it, it was the fact that it was _her._ He’d been told he was attractive from every other kind of woman, left right and centre, but the feeling of being ogled by Annie didn’t compare to anything. His smirk shifted into a genuine smile as their eyes met.

“Y… yeah.”

“Oh come on, just admit it, you find me attractive.”

Jeff didn’t even care about who was listening onto their conversation, he just wanted to hear her say it because quite honestly his brain would probably record it and replay it over and over until the day he dies… or maybe his brain would wait for the day she says, I lov-.

“Fine, fine, you’re attractive. I thought you already knew that?”

“Oh no, I knew it, I just needed to hear it from you.”

“Why?!” Annie threw her hands in the air, walking a little closer because her feet were starting to ache in her ridiculously flimsy flats that she’d bought on a whim because the bow on them was pretty (a rare moment where she'd opted for appearance over practicality).

“I don’t know… maybe it makes us even for the whole… most gorgeous person in the world thing?” Jeff said, peering over his shoulder as she walked past, a grin still plastered on his face as she disappeared back in the cubicle.

“You were just saying that to be nice.”

Now all Jeff could do was hope she was only being modest.


	5. It’s Kind of Adorable to Finally See You Smiling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Warning: This is the most trigger heavy chapter of the whole story (in terms of the events that happened to Annie). I won't go into any further detail than this. It's really not very detailed anyway but I wanted to make sure that people know before they carry on reading. I hope you like it anyway... it gives the story a bit of backbone so you know what she really went through. I didn't want to make it too traumatic, because I think in the circumstances of being outside of a bar, it would have finished rather quickly. Enjoy (as much as you can)...)

“Can you describe to me how tall he was, or any physical details about him… just try your best to remember. No pressure at all.”

Except there was pressure. There was definitely pressure.

* * *

 

Annie had received a call from the cops a couple of days later than she’d expected, asking her if they could come round and answer some further questions about the incident. They’d given her the choice of visiting the station or having the interview at the apartment, so of course she’d chosen the latter to be more comfortable.

What she hadn’t thought about though, was the fact that it wouldn’t just be her and the one officer… it would be her, the officer and Jeff… who still didn’t have much of a clue as to what had happened that night, so for him, it would be the very first time he’d be hearing about it, as well as the very first time Annie had really opened up.

Everything was still sore and fresh, and the wounds of what had happened, both physically and mentally, were still on the mend, so it didn’t exactly help having this layer of guilt on top. She told herself it was crazy to be guilty of not telling Jeff, and he’d even told her the same thing when she’d admitted feeling that way… but it still wouldn’t leave her.

She was crazy, right? It wasn’t like Jeff _needed_ to know. It was just… awkward. Having to explain all of this to a cop, and just having him there as if he was a fly on the wall. But perhaps it made things _less_ awkward because she wouldn’t have to open up right there in front of him… she’d be opening up to somebody who was just doing their job.

She could do this.  
_I can do this, I’m Annie Edison… I can do this. Just breathe…_

* * *

 

“He was… I don’t know, I’m probably not very accurate with height… um…” Annie shook her head a little, trying to clear her mind and think back to the night which she’d rather _not_ have to think back to.

“Um...” Annie looked over to the kitchen where Jeff was standing, his arms crossed over on the counter, a spoon in one hand as he turned and twisted it through a hot cup of strong, black instant coffee. He looked a bit zoned out to be honest, a pout on his face as he tried not to think too much about what Annie had been through.

“Jeff, how tall are you?” He soon snapped out of it though, lifting his head, his eyes flicking between Annie and the cop.

“Huh? Err… six, four.” Jeff answered, receiving a nod from Annie as she refocused her attention on Officer Grant (the rather deep voiced man in uniform, sat opposite her). 

“Then… maybe, six foot? Um… I can’t really remember what he looked like particularly, but… um…” Annie’s eyes drifted to a scuff in the carpet, her face contorting as she put herself back on the scene.

Jeff was now watching her over the rim of his mug, wishing he was sat beside her, holding her hand through it all.

“Take your time.” Officer Grant insisted.

“He had like… sort of… grey hair? Pretty short, I think… but not like, white… super old grey. He definitely wasn’t _old_ though… but definitely older than me. Like…”

And as if things couldn’t get much worse, her eyes landed on Jeff and for a couple of seconds all they could do was stare at one and other, Annie’s breath catching in her throat at the fact that this very important detail was probably going to freak out Jeff more than she’d expected. Annie immediately dropped her gaze, taking a deep breath.

Jeff took one last gulp of his coffee before rubbing a thumb over his forehead and sliding the mug towards the sink.

“ _Oh god…_ ” Annie steadied her breathing further, flashing her eyes up to the cop who was still patiently waiting.

“He was, err, probably in his…” Annie looked to the ceiling before finishing her sentence in a whisper, “ _…forties._ ”

As soon as the squeak of a word fell from her lips, Jeff toppled his mug into the sink with just a tad more aggression that he’d intended, sending an echoing crash through the fairly quiet room.

“Woops.” Jeff blurted out bluntly, keeping his eyes on the sink, avoiding any kind of glare that Annie was most probably sending his way.

Annie was now shakily smiling over at Officer Grant, every feeling and rush of fear now bubbling up inside of her, her eyes glossing over slightly as she held herself together… it wasn’t enough though, as a single tear dropped down her cheek.

 _“God… okay…_ ” Annie exclaimed, clenching her fists together in her lap.

“Is there… any chance I could just… take a break and have a word with… Jeff for a second?” Annie asked politely, her voice cracking here and there.

“Sure, go ahead. Take your time, there’s no rush at all.” Annie nodded, wiping the tear away from her face before it dropped any further. She glanced over at Jeff before walking over to her bedroom door, realising that Jeff hadn’t heard her.

“Jeff…? Can you come here a second?” Annie asked shyly, holding a hand over her elbow as she waited. Jeff waltzed over, his hands in his back pockets as he towered over her in the door way.

 _“I’m sorry I didn’t… tell you about all of this… and I didn’t really think about… ‘that’… I’d just really appreciate if you could just forget about it, for now?”_ Annie hushed her voice, keeping her head down as to not see Jeff’s reaction… which was his face dropping as a pang of guilt washed over him.

_“Annie, it’s fine… and I’m sorry about… ‘that’… I just… I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the guy who did this, okay? And… look, if you want me to go, then just tell me. Please?”_

Annie finally looked back up at Jeff, even if just for a second before her eyes floated back to the floor again.

_“No… I don’t want you to go… it’s just… it’s really hard… it’s the first time I’ve really thought about it all properly and… it’s hard enough telling a stranger, but… telling you? It’s going to be hard to tell you everything.”_

_“I know… and I’m sorry.”_ Jeff was hoping that she’d just look up and see that he cared… and see that he was hurting just as much as her at the thought that everything always had to be so difficult between them, purely and simply _because_ of the fact that he cared; that _they_ cared so much about each other.

Instead of receiving some form of consoling smile though, he received a hug, Annie’s cheek pressing to his chest, her arms wrapping tightly around him. He looked down for a second before wrapping his own arms back around her, pulling her close, his eyes closing, ignoring the fact that the officer was still there, sat in his arm chair, wondering what on earth was going on.

As they pulled apart, Annie smiled a little, before Jeff spoke up for one last time.

_“You can do it.”_

_Was that a wink?_ Annie thought before she walked away. _Jeff just winked at me. Jeff just winked at me… why would you do that? Did you do it, knowing that’s all will be in my head for the rest of this interview? The rest of the day? Stop winking, stop smiling and just… stop caring so much. You acted like you didn’t for so long… and now you have to act perfect all of a sudden. Stop._

_Actually, maybe don’t because it’s kind of adorable to finally see you smiling._

* * *

 

After Officer Grant had left, wishing Annie a quick recovery from the events, Jeff had a few moments to finally piece everything that he’d just learnt, together. Other than anger towards the six foot, grey haired forty year old, Jeff could only feel proud of her.

She’d sat through a good hour or so of questions, only stopping every now and then for a quick breather and self-pep talk. There had been a couple of tears at one stage, when she’d been recalling the more physical moments… especially when she had to pull down the shoulder of her blouse to reveal the bruise that was starting to fade.

The real scene in Jeff’s mind was fairly simple… she’d been waiting outside of the bar for a cab when all of her colleagues had left (she’d insisted in grabbing one because not many people were going in the same direction as her and she wasn’t feeling particularly great that night anyway, so she wanted a bit of alone time… the main reason being due to homesickness which had made Jeff shift in his seat a little).

She’d been on her phone for a couple of moments when said creepy forty-something year old man had walked around the corner and started wondering around her. She’d thought nothing of it because it was a bar, he was probably indeed some weirdo and her cab was due any second then.

But of course, it hadn’t been nothing. As soon as she’d slipped her phone back in her purse, he’d walked up a little closer to her and she was all of a sudden being fondled by some random guy on some random street under only a single street light.

Annie had of course been Annie when describing it… telling the cop that if she’d not been under the influence of a couple of small drinks, she probably would have used her karate training and put some self-defence to use, but due to the alcohol, her reactions probably weren’t as strong as they could have been.

She’d try to struggle away, but as soon as any noise had sounded from her, the guy had squashed a hand to her mouth and was now pressing her up against the wall, dragging his mouth against her neck and digging his nails into her shoulder.

His hand was soon replaced by his lips and before Annie knew it she was completely uncontrollable of the situation. She’d noticed one of his hands sliding further up her leg at one point, but that wasn’t long before somebody had rushed around the corner, making him sprint from the scene to go unnoticed.

Once again, everything else from then onwards had been a bit of a blur as her panic and state of shock had set in. A nearby cop had arrived at the bar, and soon after some paramedics, who sent her straight to ER. It was probably over quicker than it had lasted but Annie’s vivid memories didn’t make it feel that way.

“I think I might just go and...”

“Nap?” Jeff added as Annie mumbled, pointing over to the bedroom door.

“Yeah…” Annie replied with a shy laugh, sighing as she turned around, stopping once again before she finally slipped away.

“I can keep you company if you want.” Jeff spoke, unsure whether it was the right thing to suggest, but took the risk anyway. Annie thought about it for a moment, realising it was probably best if she was left alone for a while to go over everything that had happened in the past couple of hours.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll be fine.” She nodded before leaving Jeff alone, calling out once more so she didn’t feel awkward about rejecting him.

“You can eat whatever you want by the way! Just take whatever’s there.”

“I’ll leave you something!” Jeff called back, before staying quiet so he didn’t disturb her, tiptoeing around the kitchen as much as he could with his giant sized feet that seemed to make a lot more noise than he realised.

He rustled up some kind of salad concoction, leaving a portion on the side like he’d promised, throwing a couple of more calorie adding ingredients onto Annie’s plate before slouching down onto the couch and pulling out his phone for a quick check.

_ NO NEW MESSAGES _

_Huh,_ Jeff thought… _I guess not much happens when there’s only Britta left around… with Craig… and Chang… okay, perhaps I should be worried._

* * *

 

 _JEFF:_ Is everything okay over there?

 _BRITTA:_ Why do you ask?

 _JEFF:_  Because I haven’t heard from anyone in a couple of days.

 _BRITTA:_  The world doesn’t revolve around you, Jeff *earth emoticon*

 _JEFF:_ I know… but when Greendale goes quiet, something’s gotta’ be wrong.

 _BRITTA:_   Ugh, how would I even know, I’m out of town.

 _JEFF:_ Dear lord, no wonder I haven’t had any messages. Summer school is probably a disaster. Heh, glad I’m not there for a change.

 _BRITTA:_ Don’t be too happy, you’re only there because Annie ‘needs’ you.

 _JEFF:_ Annie doesn’t need me. I offered to stay until she’s up to being alone again. Shut up.

 _BRITTA:_  I’m just saying… isn’t it weird that it’s only you there?

 _JEFF:_ If you’re out of town, you’re welcome to come and replace me.

 _BRITTA:_  Oh come on, like you’d really want me to.

 _JEFF:_ What’s that supposed to mean?

 _BRITTA:_ OH COME ON

 _JEFF:_  ???

 _BRITTA:_ You’re the worst.

 _JEFF:_ Nope, pretty sure that’s you.

 _BRITTA:_  *middle finger emoticon*

* * *

 

Zoning out just for those brief few moments hit him hard when he shut off his phone and heard a muffled whimper and sob coming from the other room. He paused for a moment before putting down his still full plate, walking over to Annie’s door just to check he wasn’t going insane.

He felt a little odd opening up her door, but it was all with good intentions. He didn’t just want to know if she was okay, he _needed_ to know if she was okay. So he tilted his head around the corner, knocking on the wall so she knew he was there.

She turned over, her hair stuck to her face where some tears had obviously fallen, rubbing her eyes and sitting herself up, feeling slightly embarrassed that Jeff had come into to ‘make her feel better’.

“Sorry… I’m fine, don’t worry… I was just… ‘letting it all out’.” Annie said, trying to make light of it by throwing quotation marks up and shrugging her hair a little. Jeff nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets before walking a little further into the room.

“Is there space there?” He said, gesturing towards the side of the bed he’d been sleeping most nights. Annie shuffled a little, tucking some hair behind her ear as Jeff lay out next to her, settling an arm on the pillow behind her.

They looked up at one and other, Annie’s eyes instinctively dropping to his lips for a moment but not for the reason they usually did… of course that thought popped into her mind, but it flew away within seconds.

All she really wanted was to see the corners of his mouth turn up again, so that she knew she wasn’t being a burden, and so she knew, in some small way, everything was going to be back to normal again soon.

Jeff realised that most of the time now, their conversations were mainly through some sort of telepathic eyeball language that only ever really made sense when they were up close and personal, every twitch and quirk of her eyebrows meaning more than a single syllable either of them could currently communicate.

Jeff’s instinct was to reach his hand out to her face, slowly and gently brushing away a couple of stray hairs, wiping away a tear stain under her eye at the same time. Annie closed her eyes, as Jeff clenched his teeth, unsure as to whether this was going a step too far in trying to calm her down, but either way… _I think it’s working…?_

As Jeff’s hand tucked behind her ear, his thumb still stroking softly at the rose tinted skin of her cheeks, Annie sunk down lower, resting herself in between the crook of his arm… just letting the moment sit with her, not thinking into it more than the fact that Jeff actually _cared_.

Jeff did the same too, not thinking into it more than the fact that Britta was right… he’d rather she didn’t come and replace him.


	6. That’s for Making Me Admit Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Oooohhh.... what could possibly go wrong? Huh? Hmm... hope you enjoy... picking it back up from the slightly darker previous chapter!)

_He’s not ignoring or denying it… he’s just… not mentioning it, right? Right._

Everything was more confusing than it had ever been before, yet there was no great stress to change it. The truth was… Annie had tried to move on. She’d tried to forget about it all and give-up on anything ever happening between herself and Jeff because it was obvious he just wasn’t on the same page.

He’d panic-engaged Britta when Greendale was about to be sold off to the Subway sell-outs with crappy values… he’d labelled things platonic and that was that. It was the final piece of the puzzle that revealed the full picture; _Nothing is ever going to happen between us, so I just have to move on. It’s not worth it._

But then everything in the past ten days had happened and well… it was like a couple of the corner pieces of the puzzle had dropped off and disappeared into thin air. She didn’t like to think that the only reason it had all happened was to finally push them together, because if so, it would mean a lot in terms of how their relationship worked, and she didn’t want that.

She didn’t really want any of it… there were more than just corner pieces of the puzzle dropping off now. It was as if somebody had walked in and mushed it all back into a giant pile of complication. Nothing added up.

But for _some_ reason, neither one of them were pushing it away or scrambling to put it back together. They were both just letting it sit with them for a moment, like the curved pieces of cardboard were changing colours before their eyes… the picture was changing, they just didn’t exactly know how to deal with it.

_I’m not mentioning it either… but why should I? For once I should let Jeff sort things out, because he chose to be here and it’s about time that he finally stood up and explained himself. Right? Right._

* * *

 

“So, you’re sure this place is going to be up to my standards?” Jeff asked, throwing on a hoodie by the front door before tying up his laces on an old pair of trainers he’d chucked in his case last minute.

“ _Yes_ Jeff, I’ve already told you… my first weekend here was spent inspecting all of the best facilities near here… and before you give me a judgey face, I _do_ work-out.” Jeff stood back up, stretching his neck back as she walked around the room tidying a few things up.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? You should come with me, get some of that anger out… it’s what I do.” Annie perched herself on the arm of the couch, fiddling with a piece of fluff in her hand.

“I’ll be fine… I just… I think it might be good for me to be alone for a while. Maybe?”

“Okay but you’re missing out. If you come, I’ll leave you for the rest of the day.” Annie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as he attempted to persuade her to join him on his first Washington DC work-out session. He’d been without exercise for ten whole days; anyone could tell he was becoming a little on edge about the fact that the calories were building up.

“Wouldn’t I be distracting you and your strict ‘ab strengthening regime’?” Jeff thought about it for a second before replying with a cheeky grin.

“If you wear a sports bra you will, but other than that I think I can handle it.” Annie rolled her eyes and scrunched up her face in response, sighing a little.

“Look, all I’m saying is that wouldn’t it be super satisfying to rename the punch bag, _douchebag_ and pretend like you’re kicking the guy in the balls?” Annie gave him an unimpressed look as she pushed past him, taking a hoodie from the hook by the door.

“Ugh fine, look, I’ll come.” Annie finally gave in, making Jeff sigh a little himself.

“You don’t _actually_ have to come you know… I was just making a suggestion.”

“You’re not the only one who could do with burning off a few pizza slices…” Jeff raised an eyebrow, disagreeing with the idea of her needing to burn anything off… in his mind, her figure was anything but imperfect.

“Give me five minutes!” Annie called out, rifling through her drawers, specifically avoiding the sports bras that were tucked away at the back… _Unlucky, Winger._

* * *

 

Annie stayed put on the treadmills close by to where Jeff was ‘getting his pump on’ on a bench press, trying to keeps his focus on burning off a weeks’ worth of food rather than Annie’s figure as she ran at ( _to Jeff_ ) a surprisingly fast pace for a solid amount of time. She had her earphones in to drown herself out, trying her best to ignore anyone walking around and behind her.

The treadmills were located in front of a window so she could see over the busy streets below, the surroundings reminding her of her internship and everything she could be doing.

_I could be doing is different to what I should be doing… there’s no way I could go back now… is there? I’d freak out whenever somebody walked past me… I’d… maybe I would be okay now? No… Jeff’s right, I need to focus on me… when I’m finally okay with being alone, I’ll go back. _

_I mean, that’s the only reason I’m here… I wanted time alone but the thought of actually doing so, kinda’ freaked me out… which is babyish… I don’t need Jeff to be here. I’d probably recover quicker if he wasn’t here… but it does feel nice to be the focus of someone’s attention… and he hasn’t complained…_

_Maybe he’s right about two things… I really do need that punch bag._

Annie slowed herself down, pulling a single earbud out before stepping off and quickly making her way to the corner of the room where she could really beat out all of this stored up energy. She took a few breathes and a sip of water before getting herself in position.

Her main skill was in karate but as she’s proven once before… her arm isn’t that bad and her aim is pretty good, so she could easily give a go at throwing a few punches.

Hit.  
_That’s for delaying my internship._

Hit.  
_That’s for putting your hands on me._

Hit.  
_That’s for sending me to ER._

Hit.  
_That’s for making Jeff fly all the way to DC._

Hit.  
_That’s for making me forget my kiss with him._

Hit.  
_That’s for messing everything up._

Hit.  
_That’s for proving that I was right… I shouldn’t have moved on._

Hit.  
_No, maybe I should have, but you still deserve another punch._

Kick.  
_And a kick._

Hit.  
_That’s for making Jeff care too much about me._

Hit.  
_That’s for nothing making any sense._

Kick. Hit.  
_That’s for making me think about Jeff when this is all your fault._

Hit.  
_Jeff’s just trying to help._

Hit.  
_He’s just being Jeff._

Hit.  
_The new kind of Jeff though, the one that ‘let’s me go’ and doesn’t tell me how he really feels._

Hit.  
_Well actually, that’s not exactly new._

Hit.  
_That’s for making him sleep by my side at night._

Hit.  
_That’s for making me wish he would curl over on his side and just hold me tight._

Kick.  
_That’s for making me think all of these things._

Hit.  
_It’s not Jeff’s fault._

Hit.  
_You’re just some creepy jerk who was probably horny because his wife left him._

Hit.  
_Ugh, that’s for making me think about that. Gross._

Hit.  
_We were right; man is evil._

Hit.  
_Jeff’s not evil though, he’d never take advantage of me like you._

Kick.  
_Sure he likes sex, but even I do… even if it’s only happened a handful of times._

Hit.  
_Why am I kicking you because I enjoy that side of a relationship?_

Hit.  
_That’s for making me admit things._

Hit.  
_That’s for making me think about Jeff when I should only be focused on you._

Hit.  
_But maybe not, because you don’t deserve all my time and energy._

Hit.  
_Jeff does._

Hit.  
_Because he cares._

Hit.  
_You don’t care._

Hit.  
_You’re just an inconsiderate jerk who’s making my arms ache and my knuckles hurt._

Kick.  
_One last kick._

Kick.  
_That’s your… I’m kicking you where it hurts._

“No wonder you pretty much broke my nose.”

Annie looked up and saw Jeff, leaning on the wall beside her, a wide grin across his face as she broke her attention from the punch bag. She shook her head, wiping a bead of sweat that was now dripping down her forehead, before gulping back slightly too much water.

“Yeah… well, you were right, it was pretty satisfying… but now I need to sit down.” Annie said, lowering her head as she manoeuvred her way to a bench near where he was stood, trying her best to ignore the sweaty t-shirt that was now clinging to Jeff, his arms still pulsing from his intense session.

“I’m never _not_ working out again. So if you still need to punch somethings out tomorrow, just let me know.” Annie scoffed into her drinks bottle, trying her best not to look up at Jeff as he watched over her, a sly smile working his way across his face.

“Are you gonna’… I don’t know, use the showers or whatever?” Jeff asked, pointing over his shoulder.

“No, no… being in a public _shower_ cubicle right now would probably be my worst nightmare. I’ll just wait.”

“Yeah… and it _might_ be a _little_ weird if you follow me in…” There was a bit of an awkward pause as they both just nodded and made weird tight lipped smiles at each other… of course Jeff’s instinct at the first sign of awkwardness is to strip off right there and then. _Okay sure, you do you,_ Annie thought, rolling her eyes slightly as he pulled his sweat stained t-shirt up and over his head.

“What?” Jeff asked, scrunching his eyebrows in questioningly.

“What?!” Annie shrieked a little, jolting back from where she sat.

“What do you mean, ‘what’?”

“What do you mean by ‘what do you mean, what’?” Jeff tilted his head, looking down at a very rosy cheeked Annie… _I’m flushed because I’ve been working out, dummy._

“Shut up.” Annie stared him down, a grin creeping across his face as she tried to hold out her own. She could feel her smile about to burst from its captivity, so she got up and brushed past him as he stretched an arm up and behind his back, trying to show off some more. _Yes, we all get it Jeff, you have a perfect body…_ Annie turned her head as she walked away, poking her tongue out at him.

It only furthered his grin though as he stuck out his own… it was almost a ‘thing’ they did now, when they both knew they were purposely trying to wind each other up… which was almost a ‘thing’ for them now too. Annie had started to do it more in the past few months or so, to ease off any tension between them, so all Jeff could do was play along.

* * *

 

“Hey, first of all, ignore my hair, but second of all, you okay?” Jeff asked as he vacated the men’s changing rooms, walking up to Annie who was sat on a lonesome chair, flicking through some pages on her phone.

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah no, I’m fine… what about your hair?” Annie asked, making Jeff scratch under his chin, trying to disguise the fact that his hair wasn’t _quite_ how he wanted it.

“ _Nothing…_ so… do you want to go back and I’ll ‘leave you alone’?” Jeff said nodding forward as she gathered her purse together.

“Err… actually, I’m kind of hungry. My appetite’s not been great these past few days. Do you want to… get something?” Annie’s eyes widened at the thought of asking Jeff to lunch. _It’s not a date, so it’s not a big deal… it’s not a big deal._ Jeff was thinking the exact same thing, shaking his head out of the stare he’d started as soon as she’d finished her trailing sentence.

“Y…yeah. Sure.” Jeff nodded, trying to ignore the sudden heat in his chest and the lump in his throat. _It’s not a big deal, you’ve had lunch together alone many times… and she’s obviously not asking you on a date… she just wants company and that’s what you’re here for. Dumbass._

They were both now staring at one and other, Annie’s eyebrows twitching upwards as they both thought about the exact same thing. _You were about to start a kiss lean?_ Annie blinked a couple of times as Abed’s voice popped into her head. _Nope. No, I was definitely not._

“We should go.” Jeff said, breaking them of the moment, holding out a hand for her to steady herself upwards… but his hand stayed put and suddenly his fingers were linked between hers and they were walking outside… down the street, towards a nearby deli Annie had heard of… their hands held together; palm to palm.

* * *

 

Their hands still hadn’t broken apart as they rounded the corner to the sandwich shop, so it left Annie a bit out of sorts when Jeff let go to look at the selection of food on display. It wasn’t for long though, as he quickly swapped hands, standing close up behind her, peering over her head to get a good look.

He didn’t even let go when Annie had to pay; he just clung on, using his other free hand to take Annie’s bottle of fresh juice, walking all the way with her to a corner table where he eventually did leave her hand on its own.

Annie sat down with a sigh, her face looking a little glum as she adjusted in her seat and unwrapped the paper from her sandwich.

“What’s wrong?” Jeff had started to ask the question upfront now, instead of asking her if she was okay. It seemed to get more of a response so he kept at it.

“Ugh, I don’t know… I’m just kind of… fed up. Of everything. I’m just fed up of being so controlling over every single minute detail in my life… and then I’m surprised when something _out_ of my control happens. I wish I could just, let things be. I mean, I really did try to do that but then I lost sight of it all and… even when I tried, I was still forcing myself to let things go. I just end up contradicting myself and it drives me _crazy._

It’s probably my mom’s fault… she always used to push me into being this set kind of person who had to do these set kinds of things and I suppose it probably rubbed off on me... I wish I didn’t _care_ so much; you know? I know it’s a positive trait in some respects, but it’s also super exhausting.” Annie sighed, looking up at Jeff who was just sat quietly listening to whatever she had to say in her random spurt of openness.

“Yeah well, I wish I cared _more…_ you care about the way things work because you expect people to put their best foot forward. You _believe_ people always will, not in a naïve way, but in a way that motivates them… you make people feel better about themselves, and you expect them to believe that too… therefor you expect there to be a certain outcome to how things work.

Now imagine being me, where I’m expected to not give a crap and only care about what benefits myself. You have an expectation upon yourself that you’ll do the best job you can do… and so do I, but I also have this expectation that I’ll do a great job but people will still be surprised by it.”

“Yeah well sometimes I think I’d rather have that…”

“Oh no, trust me, you don’t. You just need to… think about what’s happening around you and what’s happening _now_ rather than what _might_ happen. Adjust to what’s actually happening, rather than adjust to what the best possible outcome could be. You set yourself up for success and I set myself up for failure. I guess that’s where we’re sort of similar. We both need to meet up in the middle somewhere and realise that you can’t set yourself up for anything until the jobs done.

Obviously you can be motivated to do the best you can do, but you shouldn’t start from the position of winning, you should just start from the position of… ‘that’s what I want, I’m going to get it’… no matter what people expect of you.”

“Yeah… well, maybe you went off on a _little_ tangent there but it makes sense.” Annie said with a bit of laugh, gesturing the ‘little’ tangent in the air.

“Yeah am I even talking about the same thing anymore?” Jeff laughed before taking a sip of his coffee that had been delivered to their table throughout the conversation…

“To be honest I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently and how I could somehow wipe my slate clean and stop surprising people when I actually work hard for something. There’s this one idea… I don’t know… it’s probably just because I’m getting older or whatever but…” Jeff’s eyes flicked to Annie’s for a second, his voice dropping to a quiet mumble as the realisation of what he was about to admit, hit him.

“I don’t know, you’re right… this isn’t what you were talking about.” Jeff fingered a piece of food, looking off in the distance as Annie watched him, a concerned expression on her face. She thought about it for a second… _It’s probably just because I’m getting older… somehow wipe my slate clean…_

“You want to be a dad?” Jeff spun his head around as she said it.

“Y… yeah… was it really that obvious?” Jeff laughed under his breath, trying to hide his embarrassed smile by eating something more.

“No… it just makes sense. No low expectations? You can start over because… you can put as much effort into it as you want?” Jeff was almost stunned by how much she understood, his eyes glazing over as he nodded in a sideways pout.

“Yeah… I don’t know, it would just be freeing for once to have somebody know me for the guy I am now rather than the jerk I was back then. They’d only ever know me for what I choose to be… no low expectations… but no high ones either because I don’t even know what being a dad means because I never had one… and I don’t know a single thing about kids, I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Annie broke into a smile, gazing off into the distance at the thought of Jeff being a _dad._

“I don’t think many people know where to start Jeff, so I don’t think you need to worry.” Annie returned her gaze, patting a hand on his own that lent on the table.

“Hah, well, I wasn’t expecting to admit to that anytime soon.”

“Hmm, well maybe I should think about becoming a therapist too…” Annie crossed over arms defiantly, sitting back a bit in her chair, smugly.

“Oh god no, I think you might be worse than Britta, and that’s saying something.”

“Huh! Nuh-uh.”

“High expectations!” Jeff exclaimed, pointing a finger to her before she rolled her eyes and began eating her sandwich once again.

“Do you know who I now miss? Shirley. I miss her… which is weird, not because we were _super_ close… she was like an aunt… figuratively.”

“Sandwich?”

“Oh right, yeah. We haven’t skyped her in a while, have we? I mean, we used to all the time… but then ‘life’ happened… and now I only really email her every now and again.” Jeff nodded, prodding his fork around some olives in his salad. He had officially gone off them after the Dean had started delivering them randomly.

“Maybe we should… do you know what, I’m going to message everyone… wait, no! I’m planning again… why should I be the one to get us all together?”

“I think that’s taking it a bit far Annie… and it might be a little tricky, Britta said she’s out of town.”

“ _Oooh,_ she mentioned that. I think it’s for some phycology conference? She said she knew someone who could sneak her in for free but knowing Britta that probably means… well, I don’t want to say it, but... it could mean anything.” Jeff scoffed as Annie eventually did pick out her phone, typing away for a few moments.

* * *

 

 _ANNIE:_ Hey! We haven’t video called in ages… we should all do one later. If anyone’s free? Annie x

 _BRITTA:_ I can try, but there’s bad reception here. What time?

 _ABED:_ I probably can, but I might have to be doing other things.

 _SHIRLEY:_  Oooh, I’d love to! I have free time this evening.

 _ANNIE:_  Err… 8pm DC time?

 _BRITTA:_  6 here. Fine. I’ll try.

 _ABED:_  Cool, cool, cool.

 _SHIRLEY:_ Oooh that’s fine! See you then Annie :)

* * *

 

“Oh… well that was easy. Everyone’s game. Eight o’clock tonight.”

“Hmm. Not sure I can make it.”

“Ha. Ha. Jeff. Very funny.”

“I’m serious.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Why’s that then?”

“Just can’t. Busy.”

“Can we go?”

“Yeah sure, let’s go.”

* * *

 

Annie’s favourite salmon dish was in the oven now as she waited patiently at her laptop, Jeff stretched out on the couch, flicking through something on his phone as usual. It wasn’t long after Annie had sat down that the irritating ringtone of a group video call popped up, the noise eventually fading when three familiar faces appeared on the screen.

“Oooh An-nie, I can see you… are you okay? I heard from Britta about what happened…  I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine Shirley, I’ll be okay. I’ve put my internship on hold for a while but it’s only been ten days… I’m sure I’ll be back soon.” Annie answered, her eyes being drawn to the two pictures below Shirley… one crackling image of Britta that was slowly but surely starting to clear up, and one of Abed with headphones on as he busied himself with something else.

“Hi Brit-ta.” Shirley waved, getting a wave back.

“Uh, An-nie, where’s Jeffrey? I haven’t heard from him in a while… is he doing okay?” Shirley dropped her voice, giving Annie a suspicious eye. Jeff turned his head around on the couch, putting his phone down on the coffee table.

“I’m not here!” Jeff called out, but nobody had heard it on the call, meaning Annie was left to do the explaining. She’d expected Britta to have told Shirley that piece of information too, but by the look Britta was giving her (a smug ‘explain that one’ face), she realised that was very unlikely.

“Britta…” Annie trailed off, squinting slightly.

“Hmm?” Shirley piped up, oblivious to what was going on.

“Hmmm?” Britta added, _acting_ like she was oblivious.

“Jeff’s here, Shirley. I guess they took his number from my phone and… he got on a flight because he’s a dummy.” Annie said, rolling her eyes over, landing them on Jeff who was still comfortably laying in position.

“Oooh… oh.” Annie kept her eyes on Jeff, widening them, a slight quiver going through her lashes as she attempted to win him over. He sighed, standing up before leaning over Annie’s shoulder, his hands on the back of her chair.

“ _Jeffrey,_ you better be making sure Annie’s okay. I’ve got my eye on you.” Shirley squinted and waved her fingers from her eyes to the camera, making Jeff roll his own.

“Shirley, seriously, I’m fine. Jeff’s just staying for a while but as soon as I’m back at my internship he’ll be back to his normal life of booze and… booze.” Jeff turned his head, disappointed in Annie’s life description.

“Jeez, thanks Annie, I really appreciate it.”

“What? Maybe it will be good for you… he hasn’t had a drink since he got here. Really it’s Jeff who needs the help.” Annie said, facing the webcam again, ignoring the look Jeff was sending her.

“Ugh.” Britta moaned, not adding much to the conversation but a noise that suggested she was one hundred percent uninterested in the conversation… _Hmmm…_

“How’s Jeff sleeping on that couch of yours Annie?”

“Hmm?!” Annie squeaked, glancing at Jeff with wide eyes. Jeff wasn’t really sure how to react to that, so he just kept his face on Annie and waited for her to do the talking.

“Err… fine? I don’t know, why don’t you ask him?” Annie twisted her neck to the side, nodding towards the screen slightly.

“It’s great.” Is all he could think to say before lifting his head up slightly and shifting on his feet so he was just leaning on one hand.

“Abed… what are you up to?” Annie asked, diverting the conversation with ease.

“I’m helping out on part of the script for tomorrow. Sorry if I’m not talking much but it really needs my full attention. Hi Jeff.”

“Hey Abed.”

“My battery’s dying so I’ve gotta’ go. Have funnnn.” Britta said before immediately cutting off, leaving everyone a little lost for words at Britta’s abrupt departure.

“Oooh okay bye Britta! Oh… err, well, how are you Abed?” Shirley cooed, trying to add some life to the conversation.

“Good.” Abed added, obviously still working away at his script.

“Oh.”

“He’s fine Shirley, he’s jus-.”

“What the hell is that?” Jeff asked as a beeping noise came from the kitchen.

“It’s just the oven! Calm down, I’ll go deal with it.” Annie shook her head before getting up and… dealing with it, leaving Jeff and Shirley (and Abed) alone.

“Are you okay Jeffrey? The last time we spoke… you said you weren’t doing so well.” Shirley asked, making Jeff watch over the laptop screen, to double-check Annie wasn’t listening too carefully.

“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me Shirley.”

“I know Jeff, I’m not worried, I’m just being a friend. I want to make sure you’re happy… you still remember what I said right? Some people are just at certain points in their lives where they react to certain situations differently because they’re trying to work things out…” Shirley stooped her neck down a little, pointing her eyes directly at Jeff on screen.

“I remember.” Jeff said, and he did. The conversation she was referring to was one two months ago or so, when Jeff had felt pretty hopeless when it came to the Annie situation. He hadn’t told anyone else but her, which had surprised them both, because out of all the people he would have expected to have reacted negatively, it would have been her… he was certain she would have had him hung on a tree, but she’d actually been supportive.

It made more sense now that Annie had spoken about it… how she’d cut herself off to try and forget about it all. He could finally release some himself of some tension because it wasn’t just him who had been dealing with the consequences of Borchert’s lab. It didn’t excuse him for never telling Annie how he felt though… he knew that.

Jeff looked at the bottom of the screen to see a de-headphoned Abed who was sat watching them, tilting his head every now and then.

“Abed, what are you doing?” Jeff asked as Annie still rattled around in the kitchen.

“Just observing.”

“Well stop that.” Abed shrugged before putting his headphones back on, the light that was reflecting on his face changing to a different colour as he returned to his work.

“Oooh okay well I best go now. Tell Annie I’ll speak to her soon.”

“Will do. Bye Shirley.” Shirley smiled before cutting off, leaving the video call between just Jeff and Abed.

“What did Shirley mean by ‘some people’?” Abed asked, not looking at the camera, as if he’d been waiting that whole time to ask… which he had of course.

“What?” Jeff asked, trying not to react to the question.

“She said ‘some people are just at certain points in their lives where they react to certain situ-.’”

“Yeah, I know what she said… and it doesn’t matter. Private conversation Abed.”

“Well it wasn’t very private because Shirley knew I was here; so did you.”

“I mean the one she was referring to. Stop being a computer." Abed shrugged again, leaving Jeff feeling rather awkward and tense. Annie wondered over soon after though, giving Jeff a chill down his back as she all of a sudden wrapped her arms around his neck, wresting her elbows on his shoulders.

Jeff clenched his teeth before raising an eyebrow at Annie’s intimate gesture.

“Abed, I made salmon and you know how cranky I get when it goes cold so I’m going to have to make Jeff say goodbye now.” Jeff was still confused by Annie’s embrace but he decided to let it slide, enjoying the warm comfort of her pulled up close. Abed didn’t respond for a while, giving them both a robot-style look with a tilted head, flicking his eyes between them both.

“Okay, bye Abed.” Jeff said as soon as his stare became too much to handle. He didn’t even want to know what thoughts were running through his mind. Jeff didn’t leave time for Abed to say goodbye either, just closing the lid of Annie’s laptop down, making her break apart.

“Why did you do that?” Annie asked, picking her laptop up, holding it between her arms.

“Why did _you_ do that?”

“Do what?”

“…I don’t know… so is food ready?” Jeff asked, stopping himself from creating some form of awkward tension between them.

“ _Yes…_ why would I make that up?” Jeff shrugged before standing up and following her to the counter top, collecting a glass of water that he wished he had the powers to turn in to scotch, before sitting down and joining Annie, the TV playing re-runs of a sitcom that they’d started to watch together.

 _Why did I do what?_ Annie thought.

* * *

 

 _Oh, that’s what I did._ The realisation hit her when _‘the’_ thing happened a couple of hours later. _‘The’_ thing being an accidental, ‘I wasn’t thinking’ moment on Jeff’s behalf, which left Annie deciding upon two things…

1 – Wasn’t it kind of what she wanted?  
2 – Wasn’t her little slip-up of getting rather close to Jeff in front of Abed, equally as accidental?

It was all rather innocent…  
Annie was brushing her teeth, all dressed and ready to slip under the covers, leaving Jeff to lay down beside her, say goodnight and fill the room with a tiny glow as he checked on whatever could possibly need checking upon at the time of night it was, when he’d pretty much spent most of the day on his phone anyway.

But as she leant against the door of the bathroom, she witnessed Jeff casually walk into the room, peel back one side of the bed and lay _inside_ of the covers. Admittedly he only covered half of his body with it but the very fact that he’d done it so simply was what stunned her the most. She rushed over to the basin, finished up her tooth brushing routine and returned to her post by the door.

“ _Jeff…_ ” Annie pointed shyly towards the bed, making Jeff look down at himself and pause.

“I… did not meant to do that. I shall remove myself and…”

“It’s fine!” _Why would you say that?_ Annie thought to herself immediately after. _You just said to Jeff it’s ‘fine’ to sleep in the same bed with you?! Why would you say that?!_ Jeff’s eyes were asking the exact same thing.

“I mean it’s not been _that_ hot… and… it is kind of weird you just lying there. Right?” _Oh my gosh, just shut up Annie!_ Annie smiled, a small squeak humming out of her lips. She could see Jeff’s teeth clenching rapidly up and down as she walked around the bed, covering herself up with the duvet.

“O... kay.” Jeff shook his head and sighed a little before making himself slightly more comfortable, trying to ignore Annie as much as he could.

 _“Goodnight.”_ She whispered, facing the other way. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? Abed would definitely have something to say about it, but how much different was it really? Annie was probably right… it is kind of odd just having him lie there as if he’s keeping watch.

It wouldn’t be so bad.

What neither of them realised though, was the fact that _‘the’_ thing hadn’t even happened yet. _‘The’_ thing was something else. _‘The’_ thing would be the problem causer. _‘The’_ thing was what they both woke up to the next morning… Annie’s arm was slipped over Jeff’s chest as they lay next to each other, her head tucked into his arm as his own curved around her hip.

If they took it literally, by the word’s real definition, they were wholly, totally and nothing-much less-to-it… sleeping together.


	7. Everything's Fine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Some fluffffff again, hooray! Things are on the up and I'm pretty sure you can see where this is heading, huh? Leave a comment if you have any thoughts!)

It didn’t take a long, perhaps three nights and three mornings, until it felt perfectly normal and they fell into a pattern.

After doing whatever they did in the day (going to the gym – fitness for Jeff, trying to shake away panic for Annie; watching TV – boredom for Jeff, comforting for Annie; talking about the possibility of drafting up some class plans for Jeff’s next semester; probably worth doing for him, stress relieving for her), they’d be tired out by quarter-to-midnight, leaving them ready to sleep.

Annie would probably read in bed for half an hour, or jot some notes down in her journal (facing Jeff so he couldn’t be tempted to read it), whilst Jeff did what he did, replying to messages from whoever had been bothered to send him one, before they flicked off the lights, lay down and said goodnight to one and other.

A few moments later Annie would shuffle over, rest her head on Jeff’s arm and wait for him to pull her closer. It was comforting and anytime Annie woke in the night with flashbacks, he’d be there to reassure her that it was all in her head.

And when Annie didn’t shuffle nearer, Jeff would turn on his side and wrap his arms around her waist, the gap between them closing so that they were pretty much glued to one and other.

The mornings were what merged the previous night and the one upcoming, as they seemed to wake up even closer together, or facing each other with Annie tucked up into Jeff’s chest, his hand pressed up against her back.

But yet again, neither of them were mentioning it.

* * *

 

The next advancement in their sleeping arrangements happened on the night that marked sixteen days since Annie had drinks at Spades, and since Jeff had hopped on the flight to comfort her.

It was in the middle of the night when Annie woke up in a shaken state, her heart racing and her hands clammy. She’d been clutching onto Jeff’s shirt but he hadn’t noticed until she’d physically pulled it tightly downwards, which he was sure would have stretched it or damaged a few threads.

He peeled open an eye at a time, his eyes adjusting to the darkness so he could just make out the outline of Annie, her fist still pulling the fabric down from his chest, the neckline starting to irritate his shoulders. He flicked on the light and patted her hip, whispering out her name.

“ _Annie… Annie… wake up…”_ He tried his best not to frighten her any further, so he just waited patiently until his words were actually heard. Finally, she jerked up and out of her night terror of sorts, looking up at Jeff, her eyes hurting from clenching them so tight and the sudden infiltration of light.

“Oh, sorry… I guess, I was just… it was just my brain making up weird visions or something like that.”

“Do you need anything?” Jeff asked, clenching down on his teeth slightly.

“No… it usually goes off after I’ve woken up… but I now have a headache, so that’s great.”

“Yeah well, now you can go back to sleep.” Jeff shuffled down a bit, closing his eyes but leaving the light on in case it helped in anyway. Annie had turned over though, so without thinking he did so too, holding her close, his hands against… her bare skin. Without him knowing, Annie’s pyjama vest had obviously risen up, leaving them in a _rather_ interesting situation.

 _“Sorry…”_ Jeff mumbled, pulling his hands back slowly, but it momentarily left Annie feeling alone again, so she held them in place as Jeff pulled a questioning face from behind her. He let it slide though, thinking it must just be a comfort thing.

* * *

 

“Yeah… okay… oh… that would be good to know… thank you, I will…yes… that’s fine… great… okay… yes… goodbye.”

Annie slipped her phone back in to her pocket, blowing out slightly after talking to Officer Grant on the phone. It had been quite a few days since he’d interviewed her at the apartment, so they were ringing to let her know an update. It was a relieving piece of news in a strange way.

“What did he say?” Jeff asked, leaning on the kitchen counter as Annie wondered over, her hands swinging by her sides.

“They… think they might know who it was… even if my description was vague they have an idea… they said they’d call me in for a few extra questions sometime soon.” Jeff nodded slowly, thinking about how Annie could be dealing with her internship but then some guy who the cops _already_ knew about had to screw it all up and she was now dealing with them instead.

“Well, that must be… oddly reassuring… maybe? Because, it wasn’t just some random guy… it was a guy who genuinely goes out to do this stuff. It’s still… awful, but, maybe you can start to relax a little bit… knowing it wasn’t just anyone.”

“Yeah… maybe. Err! I just wish it could be over already, I’ll have to be dealing with it, even when you’re gone, so it’s like… what’s the point? I really didn’t need this!” Annie raised her voice a little, throwing her hands in the air as her anger shone through.

“Somebody needs to go use that punch bag.”

“Yes! You’re right! I do! I would seriously do some damage to that right now… haha. Err!” Annie laughed a little, realising how she was coming across. Jeff smiled as she bent down beside him, pulling out a can of some fizzy soda drink that she’d ordered with a pizza delivery a couple of nights before.

“But… I could also do with relaxing. I think I might actually take that day on my own tomorrow.” Jeff was still in the kitchen, crossing his arms over as she spoke.

“Oh, I see.” He looked at her, his tongue in his cheek, his eyebrows raised.

“I don’t mean it like _that…_ you know I don’t mean it like that. I just haven’t really spent any time _alone_ since it happened. It might do me some good… and I can handle it now, I don’t think I’ll freak out when the door creaks. It will be good.”

“Yeah, alright whatever.” Jeff scratched behind his ear before wondering over to the couch. He wasn’t necessarily worried about Annie being alone… he was worried about himself and what exactly he would do without her by his side, exploring a city that she had fact sheets about, laying around the apartment.

* * *

 

The night in-between Annie’s planned day alone _also_ involved an advancement in their sleeping arrangements. One which both of them noticed and couldn’t ignore (but wouldn’t mention as usual).

Annie had indeed felt a little better after the update from the cops, so she didn’t immediately tuck into Jeff’s side when they went to sleep. She was still nearby, so Jeff used it to his advantage, curling over and placing his hands where they were now welcome, his thumb brushing up under the hem of her top. He was certain she’d just let out a content sigh.

So subconsciously he readjusted the position of his hand slightly and slowly by slowly, bit by bit, it creeped further her up her side, his thumb tracing circular motions as it went. Annie opened her eyes when she realised what path it was on, the furrow between her eyes deepening as she thought of what exactly to say.

 _“Jeff…?”_ Annie’s voice trailed up at the end.

 _“Yeah?”_ Jeff replied, not thinking too much about it, his eyes still shut tight.

 _“Careful buddy.”_ Annie cringed at her wording, moving his hand down slightly before it reached sensitive territory. He immediately realised what she was talking about, pulling back and turning on his side. Annie closed her eyes, letting out a sigh at the tension that was now between them.

 _“Sry.”_ Jeff mumbled out an apology, clenching his teeth as they faced back to back.

 _Why did I say anything? It’s not like I wasn’t enjoying him being there, just not there._ _That would be awkward, right? Because we still haven’t spoken about what’s going on and it’s not like Jeff came here for that. He came here to support me…_ Annie thought, her eyes still open as she stared at the wall ahead.

 _Why did I do that? I wasn’t even thinking and now she’s brought it up, there’s no way I can just turn over and start again. Why?_ Jeff thought, his own eyes opened wide as he contemplated his next move… and by move he meant, _literal_ move… in the bed. How was he supposed to turn over comfortably without it looking like he wanted to do it again?

Annie decided it was best they just acted like it had never happened, so she slowly craned her neck back, looking over her shoulder at Jeff who had obviously taken the same idea as he turned himself over too. Their eyes caught for a second and that’s all it took for Jeff to pull her back and for Annie to comfortably reposition herself in his arms.

Jeff held on tighter this time, tucking his neck close up against her neck, a few pieces of hair catching his beard as they lay there… acting like it had never happened, even though there had definitely been a change because now Jeff’s hands were just naturally higher, staying put, crossed over each other, his muscular arms creating a protective cover over Annie. 

That’s what it was… it was protective and comforting, and it just felt _right._

Unfortunately, though (or fortunately, depending on how he looked at it), Jeff wasn’t quite sure he could label their relationship ‘platonic’ any longer.

* * *

 

As soon as Annie had looked out at the clear blue summer skies above, her idea of a day alone was quite literally, _out the window._ Jeff tried to tell her that there would be other perfectly sunny days for her to go out, but she wasn’t having it. Even though her skin usually burnt at the first sight of sunlight, she was insistent on them spending the day outside because even if her summer wasn’t going perfectly, she still wanted to have exactly that; a summer _._

Jeff had slipped on a long sleeve t-shirt that fit snugly to his physique, but was still adamant on wearing his jeans because you would never catch him wearing shorts, even if his legs were going to frazzle in the heat.

He hadn’t however, expected Annie to waltz through the living room with a smile on her face, and a yellow daisy print sun dress on her body. It was probably the first time in a long while he’d seen her in a dress, showing off the assets that most women would die for.

He smiled at her, trying to keep his eyes above neck height as the scoop of her sundress dipped down even lower every now and again as she moved. She’d gathered a small bag of essentials from excessively high SPF sunscreen to a picnic blanket that was really an old throw but would do the same trick.

Her hair looked incredible too, pulled back slightly by the sunglasses on top of her head that would perfectly frame her face that was splashed with a tiny bit of colour here and there… a pop of pink on her lips, brightening up the smile that had been lacking in a spark the past two weeks he’d been there. He knew it was all the stress on top of her, but now it was Jeff’s time to think how adorable it was to finally see her smiling, genuinely.

“Are you coming?” Annie asked, pointing behind her as she stood by the open door.

“Hmm? Wait, am I coming? I _am,_ but are you saying you’re ready for a day alone in the big wide world?” Jeff teased, smiling down at her as he joined her in the corridor. She pulled a grimacing face and stuck out her tongue as she locked up.

“Dial it back, that was kind of mean.” Jeff rolled his eyes and walked with her, their hands meeting somewhere along the route between the apartment and a nearby picnic park that Annie knew was a good spot for a bright day like it was.

They swung their hands slightly as they wondered on through, Jeff pouting up at the sky, regretting not bringing any sunglasses of his own as the lines around his eyes creased up.

“Can you slow down please?” Annie asked, her hand being pulled forward.

“What? You want me to _slow_ down? How slow do you want me to walk?” Jeff asked, standing still, Annie’s arm still pulled forward as their fingers twisted around each other.

“Your legs are _huge!_ Mine are tiny… I can’t walk at the same pace.” Jeff sighed, her infectious smile spreading onto his face as they stood together.

“Let’s just make use of that blanket of yours and then I won’t _have_ to slow down.” Jeff swung her arm a little before she gave in, following him to a half shady spot besides a tree.

Jeff didn’t usually do picnics or anything known as ‘girly’, but he wasn’t about to complain when Annie rested herself on her elbow, waiting for him to join him. There was no way he could fit on the square of material covered grass, so he put up with having his feet just off the blanket.

“I really should have brought some glasses.” Jeff said, rubbing his eyes whilst raising his eyebrows, the light getting to him more than he’d expected. Annie pulled hers off her face and held them out, making Jeff look at her like she was insane.

“Don’t say I didn’t offer!” Annie laughed a little. It was like everything she was doing was contagious, because now he was laughing too even though there was not much to laugh about. Even if she didn’t feel like she was on top form, Jeff could only think that Annie was back. He had _his_ Annie back. The one which could brighten up any gloomy day or outshine the sun.

He dared a glance back over her, noticing that she was already starting to look rather sun kissed, especially in a certain area… so he looked away and squinted, trying his best to make it out like he hadn’t been staring.

“I’m not trying to be weird or anything but I’m pretty sure you could do with some more sunscreen already…” He carried on looking away, but he could still see her in the corner of his eye, flicking the hair off her shoulders to check.

“Not there.” Jeff added, turning his head in the opposite direction. Annie finally picked out what he was getting at, her mouth changing into an ‘O’ shape. She scrambled to her bag and picked out the bottle, squirting a little on her hand before dealing with the situation.

“You don’t have to look away now.” Annie pointed out, so Jeff shifted and turned his gaze back on her, his eyes still completely scrunched up.

“See, this is why I enjoy being organised… so that I don’t come outside on the sunniest day of the year without shades on, dummy.” Jeff stuck his tongue out half way and shook his face at her, before brushing a hand through his hair.

“What are we doing then?” Jeff asked, his eyes drifting around the park for something other than grass and trees.

“What do you mean? We literally just got here.”

“I know… I just, don’t usually do this.”

“Oh and you tell me off for not just sitting and doing nothing? I don’t usually do this either but…” Annie shrugged.

“Can I just go to sleep? And then I can just go like that,” Jeff placed a hand on Annie’s leg as if to say that would warn people off, “and then just whac-.”

“Ow!”

“Oh, crap, did I just whack you in the face?” Jeff sat up slightly making sure she was genuinely okay as she held a hand to her nose.

“Yes! You did! I’m fine, luckily my _sunglasses_ protected me.” Annie tilted her head, sticking her tongue in her cheek arrogantly. Jeff had to look away as she crossed her arms though… that dress was _not_ helping.

Annie pulled her bag closer and searched through each pocket for her phone, but it was nowhere to be found. _Oops._

“Dammit, I must have left my phone at home. I just wanted to listen to some music and zone out.” Annie sighed a little, in half disappointment but also in half relief as Jeff had decided to ignore her previous ‘organised’ comment. Instead, he was slipping his hand in his front pocket and was pulling out his phone, dumping it beside her.

Annie looked at him with a questioning face as he looked away again, shrugging a little.

“Oh, I don’t know your code.”

“Five triple three.”

“Oh… you’re not meant to tell me it Jeff.”

“Why? What are you going to do? Hack into all of my credit cards?” Jeff smirked a little, not doubting that Annie could probably do that with her internship somehow. She rolled her eyes before unlocking the screen, pausing to smile at the picture.

“Do you pay for your Spotify?”

“Yeah.” Jeff was still looking out into the distance so he wasn’t watching how Annie’s face lit up at the thought of nosing in Jeff’s music selection. It did feel a bit odd, but she also found it quite interesting so she rolled onto her front, her legs kicking up slightly as she slid the pages across and scrolled through his playlists.

“’I’m sorry for being alive in the nineties and having two ears connected to a heart.’ That’s you.” Annie moaned, mimicking something Jeff had said about a certain artist he enjoyed listening to.

“I’m sorry my collection doesn’t include High School Musical.” He teased, leaning over on his side as Annie’s cleavage was tucked away out of sight.

“I do _not_ have High School Musical…” Jeff stared at her suspiciously, “… _on my phone._ ” Jeff snorted, leaning his cheek in his hand as she carried on searching. Annie paused, nudging him with her elbow playfully.

“Oh you do have _some_ songs I like on here.”

“Some?”

“I like The Head and The Heart, so you win me over with that one.”

“I win you over? I didn’t realise music tastes influenced your attraction to men so much.” Annie rolled her eyes, looking over at him with a glare.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I barely even listen to half of that stuff anyway. So, it’s an unfair judgement.” Annie ignored him though, grabbing her headphones, plugging them in and filling her ears with a tinny tune, her legs still kicking up and down behind her, slowly moving in time to the beat.

She pulled out one earbud though, passing it over to Jeff who took it hesitantly, realising that they were about to take part in a cliché move of listening to music together. On a picnic blanket. In a park. With Annie in a sundress with a pretty damn revealing neck line.

Maybe he’d just get lost in the moment though. Other than actually, eventually getting around to telling her the all-important three words, not much could get better than this.

He did find himself dozing off a few songs in, only being woken up by Annie who shuffled, the earbud being whipped out of his ear as she pulled a book out of her bag, resting back down with it in her hands. Jeff picked the earbud up again, and yes… that was a forensics textbook she had.

“Do you _ever_ stop?” Jeff asked, Annie just looking at him weirdly.

“I have stopped? I haven’t been to my internship in two and a half weeks. That’s a pretty big deal for me.”

“Okay.” Jeff shook his head, looking back out in front of him.

It wasn’t until a while later when a song that somehow hit Jeff right where it hurt, the _heart,_ started playing, that he realised something. Every minute that went by, was another step closer to Annie not needing him, meaning every minute that went by where she _wanted_ him there was quite simply, her _wanting_ him there.

Which meant only one thing; every minute that went by, left Jeff one minute closer to finally opening up and saying those all-important three words that he’d been thinking about more and more often.

It didn’t help that Annie was perfectly happy just lying there in the sun, her head swaying a little as she flicked through pages of information he had no interest in learning about. He was interested in her though, as if the words were right on the tip of his tongue.

He wanted to say it, right there and then. He tried, but it just didn’t come out right. A weird ‘ayeh’ noise escaping his lips, sounding something like a certain letter, I. He gulped and coughed realising he had genuinely just attempted to say it, a burning feeling rising in his chest, the summer sun now feeling far too hot.

He sat up, the earbud falling from him again, coughing slightly. Annie turned her head and pulled out her own, the music only able to be heard by the birds fluttering around.

“Are you okay?” She asked, receiving another cough in return.

“Hmm? Yeah… yeah, just… a burp.” _Smooth Jeff, real smooth,_ he thought to himself, forcing a rather ugly sounding gurgle up his throat. Annie smiled, her eyebrows raising as she pulled a face.

“Do you want to go?”

“Hmm? Only if you want.” Annie nodded, turning off the music on Jeff’s phone before passing it back to him. He didn’t look up at her, his fingers staying as far away from hers when she did pass it over, the burning feeling in his chest still yet to fade.

* * *

 After returning to the apartment, Jeff left again, leaving Annie alone, _finally_. If she were at number 303, she would have immediately stepped into a hot bath and pampered herself, but seeing as the only spa treatment she could get near to was a shower, she delayed it a little bit, taking the time to clear up the place whilst Jeff was out.

He said he was going to take a trip to the gym (and quite possibly taking a few hits to that punch bag for being such a chicken about not just telling her), so she took his word for it, keeping her phone on ring and her things by the door just in case either of them needed each other.

She started clearing up the bedroom first, picking up a few things from the floor, plumping up the pillows and making the bed again so it was up to her standards. She hung up one of Jeff’s shirts that he’d left lying about, the act feeling kind of normal after ‘living together’ for over two weeks.

She moved to the bathroom soon after, chucking out any rubbish, and reorganising her products across the sink, pouting slightly over the fact that there was no longer just one toothbrush in the cup; there were two.

After a while she’d plugged in some music and was actually enjoying herself, her mind on nothing but putting the place back together, spick and span, lining up her and Jeff’s shoes by the door, hanging up his jacket and doing all of these homey and domestic things that really did just feel… _normal._

She didn’t even notice when Jeff slipped back in, using his emergency keys to unlock the door, as she practically danced around the kitchen. He watched her for a second, slowly creeping across the room. He was certain he’d probably give her a heart attack but he took the risk, pulling out his phone and capturing the moment. She was definitely back.

He smiled before watching back the ten second clip he’d recorded, her eyes finally meeting his, making her jump.

“Oh my god, why would you do that?! You know I’m sensitive right now, you could have _really_ scared me! Seriously!” Annie shrieked, quickly turning off her speakers, putting down the dishcloth in her hand.

“Sorry.” Jeff said with a sniggering smile, ignoring the glare she was sending his way.

Without thinking he was sending the video to Abed so at least somebody else could experience Annie becoming herself again.

* * *

 _JEFF:_  (Video attachment) Looks like somebody’s feeling better.

* * *

Jeff thought nothing of it again until later on when Annie was curled up at his side as they settled down for sleep, checking his phone with her watching on. When he saw Abed’s notification though, he lifted it above his head, hiding it away from her.

* * *

 _ABED:_  The last time she did that she was seeing someone.

* * *

Jeff gulped slightly, looking down at Annie who was now looking back at him curiously, wondering why he was all of a sudden shielding away his screen… not that it was really any of her business, but she was certain she’d only seen Abed’s name flash up.

“Is everything okay?” She asked innocently, her smile intensifying the feeling that hadn’t left him all day. He nodded.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Jeff finally put his phone down, making himself more comfortable before crouching his neck down and placing a kiss on the top of Annie’s head.

_Everything’s fine._


	8. Point Taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Not sure where I was going with this (and am a bit unsure as to whether this is really realistic of Jeff, but I mean, I couldn't really resist?) but basically, we should rename Jeff, Jeffrey Tobias Flirty McFlirt-flirts Winger... hehe, mischief! Hope you enjoy... the next chapter will follow on directly from the end of this one, so stay tuned for when I post it! Leave a comment if you want... always appreciated!)

Like Jeff had noticed on their spontaneous park trip a couple of days ago, Annie was quite frankly, Annie. She was back to being herself. Okay so of course there were a few slip-ups here and there, like how she still couldn’t quite face the grocery store aisles on her own, or how some nights she still needed the light on, but other than that, she was there… and that meant Jeff was there too.

He could finally take a breather and just be Jeff around her again, without offending her or being harsh or overly sarcastic. It meant they were both just happy in each other’s company, even when the thought that Annie didn’t need him, still ran around in his mind.

Annie was even fine with Jeff going to the gym without her joining him, meaning he could give all the attention to his work-out that it needed.

During this time Annie would either catch-up on some emails from her internship (she was doing a bit of administrative work from home so that they didn’t totally forget about her), groom and pamper herself a little, _or_ bake cookies… because if there’s anything that she’d learnt from Shirley, it was the fact that baking _could_ be a good thing.

You didn’t need to be a pie-pusher or have excellent skills, you just need time and patience and quite frankly, in Annie’s situation, that was quite literally the perfect combination.

Jeff came back in from the gym, quickly changing out of his sweaty gym gear into something more comfortable, before wondering into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water, downing half of it in one. He peered over her shoulder, noticing that her bowl was full to the brim of chocolate chip cookie dough.

There were several options running through his mind… dunk his finger right in and annoy the hell out of her; get a spoon and attempt to slyly and hygienically get a taste, whilst quite _probably_ annoying the hell out of her; wait and see if she had any left overs (which was highly unlikely because who has left over cookie dough?) … _or_ annoy the hell out of her first of all, and _then_ get some of the sugary goodness that was there waiting to be eaten.

He weighed each option out before realising which one would probably be most fun, landing on the last idea, because that’s what they needed. Fun. Something to lighten the mood? _Duh-doy._

It would probably surprise her that he’d even be attempting to steal cookie dough, but if there’s one thing he _wanted_ to remember from his childhood then it would be stealing it from his mom when she wasn’t looking, so yes, even if it was going to make part of his work-out pointless, he’d take the hit because it reminded him of something positive for a change.

So he casually stretched out an arm around her, his finger hovering above the bowl, but just as he began the descent, she whacked him out of the way, trying to ignore him the best she could.

“Ow.”

“Oh stop being such a wuss and don’t you _dare_ dunk your finger. I’m watching you.” Annie gave him a glare before turning around and flicking a knob on the oven. He attempted once again but her karate training really had played out, meaning she could stop him directly in his tracks.

“Stop! I’m trying to make enough to last me a while so can you please stop stealing my ingredients.”

“I _can,_ but I’d really like some, pretty please?” Jeff smirked down at her, fluttering his eyelashes embarrassingly as if he was attempting his own version of her Disney eyes. Annie sighed, turning around to face the bowl that Jeff was so determined to get his hands on.

“If you’re just trying to annoy me, can you please stop because I’m really not in the mood.”

“Oh, but you only bake when you're in a  _good_ mood right?”

“Not necessarily... it’s stress relieving. I bake when I want to, and I _don’t_ allow for cookie dough eaters!” Annie pointed a finger at him, scrunching up her face in an adorably angry manner.

“I’ll shut up if you let me have some.” Jeff stepped forward a little closer, sensing Annie’s rage levels rise.

“No! Go away. You can have one when they’re finished.”

“Well then you’ve only given me one option.” Jeff stood even closer before wrapping his arms around her, holding her back from the counter, stretching an arm as far as he could without losing grip.

“No! You can’t…” Annie struggled a little, swatting at his arms around her, “…stop! You can’t do this because it will… cause me flashbacks and you don’t want that because then I’ll be sad and I know you hate it when I’m…” Annie paused, still swatting at Jeff who was just smirking as he gradually made his way to the bowl, “…ugh, look fine, you can have some!”

Jeff finally released his grip, feeling victorious at his attempt at teasing Annie. She slid the bowl along the counter, dipping in a finger and holding it mid-air.

“You can have _this_ much.” Annie said, showing him how much she’d taken from the bowl. He looked at her and back to her hand, knowing Abed would want to strangle him right now.

He lent forward, his eyes looking up at Annie before he shut them, his lips closing around her finger as he swirled his tongue around it, the roof of his mouth scraping along as he slowly pulled away, his teeth biting down slightly before he finally stood back, actually taking a taste of whatever the hell it was on her finger. He couldn’t even remember.

He glanced at the bowl. _Cookie dough._ He glanced at Annie. She still had her finger held up, a glare in her eyes as she tried to steady her breathing, an obvious pink tingle crossing her collarbone.

 _“You did that on purpose._ ” Annie almost whispered, squinting her eyes some more at Jeff who was clenching down on his teeth rapidly, trying to avoid a certain state of affairs that were going on ‘downstairs’. _Craig. Chang. Rabies._ He could still feel himself smirking, both of them just staring one and other down.

 _“What did I do on purpose?”_ Jeff said, hushing his voice slightly. They were moving closer to each other without even realising until they were suddenly looking up and down one and other’s faces, thinking the exact same thing. Jeff gulped.

 _“I have to go deal with something in the bathroom.”_ He blurted out, trying not to look down.

 _“You could just say you need to go to the bathroom.”_ Jeff tilted his head, pouting in thought.

 _“No I mean; I literally have to go deal with something.”_ Annie tilted her own head, squinting her eyes in suspicion, before widening them again as Jeff accidentally dropped his gaze.

“Oh my god! You gross pig. Ewww!” Annie was swatting at his chest properly now, her face scrunched up in disgust. Jeff hunched in his shoulders as he smirked before turning on his heel and walking away.

“You are so gross! I can’t believe you!” As Jeff vacated the vicinity of the kitchen-living room, Annie stood in shock, her mouth dropped open a little.

“Ugh!” Annie called out, before talking out loud to herself, Jeff still in ear shot. “U. S. T.” Annie shrugged, still a little in surprise at Jeff’s bluntness, before actually putting together her cookies, ignoring Jeff as much as she could when he re-entered the room.

When she was done, she slipped off her oven gloves, laying them down on the side.

“There is _no_ way you are sleeping in our bed tonight.” Annie’s eyes bulged as soon as the words left her mouth. Jeff twisted his head around immediately, crossing his arms across his chest.

“ _Our_ bed, did you just say?”

“I didn’t… you know I didn’t mean to say that. I didn’t mean to say that, I swear. I just… I mean, what are we doing, sleeping together? _Pfffsha,_ no, I didn’t mean it, obviously.” Annie said, trying to act cool but failing miserably, throwing up her arms as she _‘pfffsha’_ -d.

“Well, if it’s _our_ bed, then do you _really_ get to make up the rules?” Annie glared at him again, biting her bottom lip.

“You _know_ I didn’t mean that.”

“You said it, not me.”

“I _know,_ but I didn’t _mean_ it… and how can you talk mister… mister…” Annie threw her hands in the air, trying to think of some clever retort, “’I’ll eat off your fingers’!”. Jeff was still smirking though, nodding slowly as she attempted to redeem herself, storming through the room to the bedroom door.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” She added, turning back to face him.

“Oooh, are we now?” Jeff teased.

“Ew, gross! Not like that! I genuinely need to use the bathroom.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Jeff winked, making her flare her nostrils.

“Stop that! You are sleeping on the couch!” Annie pointed at him, her cheeks growing rosier by the second.

“Oh I know, you already made it very clear that I’m not welcome in _our_ bed.”

“Err!” Annie stormed off, shutting the door behind her with force, leaving Jeff still slightly confused about something she’d mentioned earlier, so when he heard her click out of the bathroom and stay busying herself in the bedroom, he pulled out his phone and called out a few possibilities as to what ‘U. S. T’ stood for.

“What does UST stand for? Is it… User Support Technician?” Annie shook her head behind the door, wondering where on earth he was getting his definitions from.

“Unfit to Stand Trial? It could be that… doesn’t really make sense, but… is it Universal Standard Time? Why would you need to know that?”

* * *

 

In the evening, Annie genuinely didn’t want Jeff in the same room. Neither of them had thought about mentioning their second (or quite possibly third) almost kiss and how Jeff had _genuinely_ had something going on ‘down there’ after teasing her with cookie dough on her fingers. Annie still shuddered at the thought… not that she didn’t find it _kind of flattering_ that he could get turned on by that, but just the fact that it had happened, right there and then…

The time was nearing two thirty (in the morning) and Annie still wasn’t asleep so she took the risk and peered outside the door, a tiny bit of light coming through the closed curtains covering the window of the living room, Jeff’s silhouette just noticeable on the couch.

She rolled her eyes and sighed before quietly tiptoeing across the room, nudging her knee against his leg to wake him up.

 _“Whadda yo wan?”_ He mumbled in slurry sleep language, rolling his neck in a daze.

 _“I can’t sleep.”_ Jeff opened his eyes for a second, letting out a sigh. He squashed himself as far as he could into the back of the couch cushions, moving his arm to let her settle down.

 _“Is this ‘our’ couch now too?”_ He asked, as she curled up into his side.

_“Shut up.”_

_“Alright.”_

* * *

When they woke up, Jeff immediately noticed that his phone charger wasn’t working, everything becoming clear when he wondered over to the fridge which was clearly turned off.

“Ah great, your powers out.” Jeff called from the kitchen, checking all the other appliances just in case (for some odd reason) his charger was just genuinely not working and the fridge had decided to turn itself off.

“Oh… should I go check if it’s the whole building?” Jeff shrugged, still bent down at the oven.

“I could go ask my neighbour? Can you come?” Annie asked, hovering by the couch ready to go and find out the problem.

“Annie nobody’s going to lock you in their apartment if you just knock the door.” Jeff stood back up, knowing that Annie was going to start using the Disney eyes in… _5, 4, 3, 2, 1…_

“Ugh, fine.” He was completely uncontrollable with his actions whenever she used them. They were just too precious to ignore, even if he knew somewhere deep down in the core of her eyeballs, there was a flaming burn of _sheer_ evil. Annie smiled triumphantly, unlocking the door and walking out into the hall way.

She knocked on the first door and waited patiently, only having a rough clue of who was behind it. It opened wide, a tall blonde woman in a pair of hot pants and a vest stood before them on her phone.

“Powers out, I know. Some dudes gonna’ come fix it or whatever.” She didn’t even look up until Annie spoke, her eyes being immediately drawn to the six-foot giant stood behind her. Annie followed her gaze as it dropped up and down Jeff, her lip curling inwards as she ogled him, using no attempt to hide it.

“Oh, hey.” She spoke, her eyes still transfixed on Jeff as if Annie was just completely invisible.

“Hi.” Jeff spoke bluntly as he stood with his hands on his hips, trying to act cool as some woman attempted to flirt with him when the woman who he admired fondly, stood right beside him. Not that she knew of course, even Annie herself didn’t know it herself, so what did he expect?

“If you need anything, just come over.” Annie was certain the woman had just winked as she bit her lip inwards, her offer being directed to Jeff and _only_ Jeff, who just flicked up his eyebrows and started on his escape, scooping a hand around Annie’s waist.

The woman’s eyes dropped to his fingers, curled around Annie like he’d done it a thousand times before (which by now, was _almost_ true due to them ‘sleeping together’).

“Oh, whatever.” She rolled her eyes before shutting the door on them, making Annie jolt back in surprise before she turned and faced Jeff.

 _“Oh my god! She was trying to hit on you!”_ Annie threw a hand in the hair, her voice shrieking as she tried to keep it hushed in the corridor.

_“Well, what can you do? I am irresistible.”_

_“Seriously Jeff? That was SO awkward. I mean, we did get the answer we were looking for but… WOW. She was more obvious than when Troy used to try and pick up girls… and he used to literally drool.”_

Jeff shrugged as he walked backward, stopping when the apartment door came into view.

“Ugh, you’re even more gross now.” Annie swatted him as they stepped back in the door, the day now feeling entirely dull as she spotted the rain dripping down outside. _So much for sunshine._

“I don’t see what the big deal is, if a woman wants to hit on me, she can do it. I’m not complaining.”

“Oh come on Jeff, that was ridiculous.”

“What do you want me to say? ‘Oh sorry lady but can you stop drooling over me, I know you find me attractive and yes, I am single, but can you just stop, Annie thinks it’s gross.’… unless this is a jealousy thing Miss Edison? You can tell me if it is, I’ll understand.”

“I am _not_ jealous.” Annie was standing her ground, pointing a finger as he rounded the corner of the kitchen counter, leaning on his elbows.

“Oh so if we were back at Greendale and I added her to the study group, you wouldn’t be the slightest bit annoyed?” Annie ignored him for a second before shooting her eyes up along with her finger once again.

“AHA! So you _were_ jealous! I knew it!” Jeff groaned and rolled his neck around, standing up, knowing he was in for it now.

“I wasn’t jealous of you _liking_ him, I was jealous of the fact he was my age and nobody seemed to care.”

“Oooh, really now? So that’s why you couldn’t just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Because something tells me it was _also_ because of the fact that you were sleeping with Britta.” Jeff rolled his eyes knowing that the conversation was now heading down a completely different route and he wasn’t sure if he was up for dealing with it right now. He didn’t even have coffee in him.

“Yeah sure, the fact that I was hooking up with Britta, didn’t help either, but maybe that’s because I knew you would murder me.”

“I wouldn’t _murder_ you Jeff, in fact I was pretty cool with it if you think about it. But… that was ages ago, _years_ ago in fact, so let’s just forget about it… if you really want me to admit though, fine, maybe…” Annie sighed, looking over at the rain splattered window, “…I was a little bit jealous.”

Jeff smirked, folding over his arms as he leant onto the counter once again.

“Yeah but _why_ were you jealous exactly?” He pushed her, causing another sigh.

“I don’t know… I mean, would you be jealous if other guys were flirting with me right now?” Jeff dropped his mouth open to speak, the words, _of course I would,_ right on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t say anything though, he just fiddled with the corner of a chopping board and avoided her gaze.

“Point taken… but, anyway, what are we doing today? The powers out and it’s raining.” Annie nodded, actually glad Jeff had diverted the conversation even though he had yet again, not really answered fully.

“I don’t know… maybe we could just be lazy. I could probably still power my laptop for a couple of hours, we could watch a movie? That couch was pretty comfy last night.”

“Yeah, only because _I_ was there.” Annie bit her bottom lip slightly, her eyes starting to do their thing.

“You can’t use those eyes twice in the space of half an hour. That’s torture.”

“I only do it because I _know_ you’ll succumb to them… but fine… can I bribe you with cookies?” Jeff shook his head, not that interested in filling up on carbs especially with what had happened the night before.

“Err… you can have your space back on _my_ bed?” Annie smiled slightly, hoping that would be enough for him to veg out with her.

“Ugh, fine.” Jeff did eventually succumb, swaying a little as he maneuvered his way to the couch, Annie resting her head on his arm as she finished setting up a DVD on the coffee table in front of them.

* * *

 

They did indeed veg out, and Jeff did indeed indulge in some cookies even though he would regret it the next day. Before they knew it, it was pitch black and all they had left to do was play on Jeff’s phone after Annie’s had run out. The power still wasn’t back but luckily the rain had stopped so if they did need to escape, it wouldn’t be quite as annoying.

They were taking turns playing some kind of cartoon monster killing game, and it was currently Annie’s first attempt, as they tucked up against each other. Jeff’s arm curved over her so he could guide her through the game, giving her a helping hand every now and then.

“No, look, you’re playing the game wrong.” Jeff said, trying to grab the phone out of her hand.

“No I’m not! I’m killing loads of them.”

“Yeah but it’s not about that, it’s about being fast too. Look, let me show you.” Annie gave in, letting the round end so he could start over.

“You can go slower but then you have to do more, look, it’s pretty advanced game, I wouldn’t expect you to know.”

“Oh really? You only know because you spend more time playing it than you spend _actually_ teaching.” Jeff couldn’t disagree with that, just shrugging against her shoulder as he lent forward.

“Look, you have to flick it, and that gets the pace going, and then if you go up and down really quickly it kills off the first ones, and then when that bits done you can do circles… like that, just do circles and it… look it’s working.” Jeff was still moving his finger around the screen, when he realised that Annie’s neck had a tiny pink flush to it where he’d been breathing over her. She hadn’t said a word for a few minutes.

He turned his head a little bit to see her face which was equally as pink, only lit up by the screen in front of her.

 _“And then, on this level it still works if you use two fingers.”_ Jeff dropped his voice to a breathy one, smiling against her neck, his beard leaving a slight mark.

She closed her eyes for a long blink before biting down a grin.

 _“I hate you.”_ Annie scrambled up, leaving a smirking Jeff alone.

“Wait, you won’t see where you’re go-.”

“Ow!” Annie was now on the floor, holding a hand to her shin where she’d walked into the coffee table on accident.

“Oh my god are you okay?” Jeff pulled back his face in surprise, shining his phone down on her.

“Uh-huh.” He laughed a little before getting down beside her, her hair splayed out in different directions as they looked up at one and other, the tiny light from Jeff’s screen reflecting in each of their eyes.

Annie was certain that this would have been a kiss moment, especially after the fluster Jeff had just given her, but instead he lowered his voice again, holding her hand so she could steady herself up.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Jeff asked, with part of his brain thinking, _I really want to go out with you right now,_ and the other part thinking, _I’m really hungry._

“Yeah.” Annie replied in an equally as breathy voice. Jeff licked his lips a little before pulling her up, steadying her with two hands now.

“Oh wait, I need to get ready, I look awful.”

“No you don’t. What are you talking about? You look perfect.”

“You can’t even see me though; it’s pitch black in here.”

“Who cares? I’m the only one who’s going to be looking at you.” Annie nodded her head, trying to stay calm about the fact that Jeff had just called her perfect and was now saying that he was the only one looking at her. Which was partly true, because whenever she was in a room, she’s all his focus is on.

“Can you find the door on your own? I need to find my wallet.” Annie nodded and replied with a soft ‘Yeah’ before slowly using the furniture for guidance. She’d usually be prepared in this instance, but she hadn’t really planned it out so she was candle and torch-less so Jeff’s phone light would have to do.

As they got to the door, Jeff found himself in the hallway first, the emergency lights luckily staying on.

“Come on, hurry up so I can get your fit bum to sushi restaurant.” Annie’s mouth dropped open at Jeff’s command, making him roll his eyes.

“I was quoting that professor guy.”

“Really? Hmm. Jeff thinks I have a fit bum.” Jeff walked on a little quicker, trying to ignore her.

“No I don’t.”

“Why would you say it then?”

“Wasn’t thinking.”

“Hmm.” Annie finished her prodding as she caught up to speed with him, slipping her fingers into his so he had no choice but to slow down.

“So, sushi?”


	9. At Some Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This chapter picks off right after the previous chapter - hence the title name. Eeeeek! Dun-dun-dun... I told you the pace would pick-up! Enjoy my friends...!)

It was the kind of sushi place that had the spinning conveyor belt on a bar table, meaning Jeff and Annie both had a stack full of plates already when they’d only been sat down for ten minutes.

It didn’t really matter how long they stayed in the end, even if the food was diabolical, because both of them just wanted each other’s company. Also, Annie wanted to stay put whilst Jeff kept smiling at her in that _way._ It was starting to give her a warm feeling up her neck and she wasn’t planning on trying to stop it.

They spoke about a few things like what Jeff plans on doing at Greendale for the next semester and how they’re both rooting for Abed even though they miss him more than they’d expected, as well as some news she had to tell Jeff.

“Oh… sorry for not mentioning earlier but… work said I could come in when I wanted for my internship, so I think I’m going to go in tomorrow. I don’t know why I didn’t mention it, but I just thought I should probably let you know.” Annie laughed a little, taking a sip of her drink.

“Oh, wow, are you sure you’re ready for that?” Annie nodded with a half-smile.

“I think so… I think I’ll be okay because I trust everyone there, you know? I have to go back at some point… I’ll get a cab there and I’ll eat lunch with everyone, and I think I’ll be fine. I hope.”

“Wow. Well, I’ll come with if you want, and I’ll come pick you up. It’s good that you feel up to it.”

“Yeah, I do. I’ll be fine. _I’ll be fine._ ” Annie told herself before digging back into her food. Jeff pouted in thought before taking a large gulp of scotch.

He’d reassured Annie that having a drink wouldn’t put her in the same situation as when she’d been at the bar those few weeks ago, so she ordered a martini just to prove to him that she really did drink them, and it was now most definitely intensifying that feeling on her back.

Jeff had to admit, teasing and having fun with Annie was starting to become one of his favourite things, even if she did get a bit mad as a consequence, so when a dish he knew of travelled alongside them, he stretched out and grabbed it, sliding it towards her.

“You should have this, it’s really good.” Annie squinted a little as she pulled the glass lid off, taking a whiff of the interesting looking sushi rolls in front of her.

“Are these spicy? I really can’t stand spicy food.” Jeff shook his head, stealing one of them to pop in his mouth, not reacting when his tongue started to flare.

“Hmm…” Annie was still hesitant so as he finished his own mouthful he picked up the second roll with his chopsticks and held it in the air for her to take. She eyed it, before awkwardly taking it in her mouth, feeling slightly odd that Jeff was feeding her food.

As soon as she actually started to devour it though, her own tongue started to flare and her eyes started to bulge. She held a hand to her mouth so she could force down a swallow, shaking her head at Jeff.

“Oh my gosh! I hate you! Eugh, why would you do that? My mouth is on fire!” Annie held out her tongue, quickly burning the flames with her drink but soon regretting it when it just intensified the sensation.

“Water, water, I need water.” Jeff couldn’t help but laugh as he got the barman’s attention, a glass soon arriving by her side.

“Oh gosh, seriously, that was awful. Why would you do that, seriously?” Jeff just shrugged, before eating the last and final spicy sushi roll on the plate.

“I think I’m done after that, _thanks_ Jeff.”

“Pleasure.” Jeff smiled, before downing his last drop of scotch. 

They sat for a while just finishing up completely. Annie noticed a couple come in holding hands, sitting at a set table in the corner. She pouted, remembering what Jeff had asked her when she’d bashed into the coffee table. _Do you want to get out of here?_

 “Can I ask you something?” Jeff brushed a hand over his chin.

“Hmm?”

“Was this a date?” Jeff blew out slightly, swirling his empty glass around in his hand, a tiny drip of water circling the bottom of the glass.

“If we were on a date, you’d know about it.” Annie nodded, not fully understanding him, but seeing as it was Jeff, she let it slide.

“So… does that mean we’ll go on one at some point?” Jeff was surprised Annie was asking, but seeing as she was making an attempt, he was going to have to say something.

“I will… ask you… at some point.” Jeff said, slipping a tiny bit closer towards telling her the full, honest, truth.

“And… I will… accept, at some point.” Jeff nodded, biting his lip.

“That is… good to know.”

They smiled at each other before Jeff got up and suggested they get going. Annie insisted on paying and told Jeff, ‘If it isn’t a date, then does it matter who pays?’, so she did… but with Jeff’s credit card (he said she already knew the code and it made her roll her eyes at the thought he had the same code for everything).

They left the restaurant and walked around for a bit, still holding hands, passing some shops that were lit up but shut closed. When Annie let go to walk on a bit further ahead, _alone,_ that’s when the lump started to form in Jeff’s throat.

_I have to tell her. It’s unfair on her and it’s kind of getting unfair on me. But… I don’t want to ruin tonight. What if I tell her and she freaks out? What if she gets mad because I took so long? What if she doesn’t believe me? What if she doesn’t… feel the same way?_

_You usually say I love you when you’ve been dating for months… all we are right now is friends with an obvious attraction (or fondness) for each other who sleep in the same bed. Okay so maybe it’s a little bit more than sleeping and attraction but… I really don’t want to mess this up._

“Hey look, it’s a photo booth!” Annie called, peering her head into a curtained cubicle that was implanted into the wall as a pop-up attraction. Jeff slowed down a little, sending a questioning look.

“Annie, you don’t want to go in there, it’s probably where drug addicts get their doses and where homeless guys come to pee. Come on.” Jeff waved her along as he walked past, nodding his head forward.

“It’ll be fun!” Jeff rolled his eyes, walking back towards her to inspect it fully, mainly because the smile on her face was enough to make him collapse at the knees.

“I can’t fit in there with you.” Jeff pointed out, the bench looking rather small for a two-person booth.

“Ugh, go on.” Annie shoved him a little, making him crouch down under the curtain, positioning himself on the bench. All of a sudden they were face to face in the crowded and claustrophobic cubicle, Annie perching herself down in-between Jeff’s legs without warning.

“Oh okay.” Jeff didn’t know where to put his hands as they became clammy. Annie was shifting a little bit, pulling out a few spare coins from her purse to buy a couple of strips.

 _“What are we doing?”_ Jeff whispered to himself with a shake of the head.

“Look, you have to smile, do you know how to do that?” Annie asked, looking down at Jeff over her shoulder. He sighed, his chest heaving against Annie’s back as the timer started.

_"3… 2… 1…"_

Annie smiled, pulling a face here and there as Jeff looked up at her, still shaking his head even though the camera was busy snapping away. The last photo consisted of Annie rolling her eyes at Jeff as she realised he hadn’t been playing along, whilst Jeff looked back up at her, an admiring smile across his face, his hands just in shot as they circled around her waist.

“Oh I think it’s doing a novelty set now.”

“There’s _more?_ ” Jeff moaned, sitting up as much as he could without Annie toppling over.

On the screen in front of them, before the timer set itself off again, one single word flashed up before them.

**‘KISS’**

Jeff felt his stomach flip upside down and back around again, as Annie just stared at the screen, not realising that the novelty section had clear instructions for what do. Jeff’s hands on her hips were now much more noticeable. She looked down at them and their eyes met.

“Did you… plan this?” Jeff scrunched up his face, a smile creeping in there somewhere.

_"3… 2…"_

“What?! No?!”

_"1…"_

It was instinctive really, as they met nose to nose, Jeff’s hands sliding up her back as she turned herself around, new instructions playing out on the photo booth screen going completely ignored. Neither of them even cared about the stupid pictures anymore, or the fact that some guy probably called the bench his home.

**'FINGER GUNS'**

All that mattered was Annie’s hands running through the back of Jeff’s hair and the little tiny gasps that escaped her lips when they shifted in position slightly… or the fact that his legs were now shut closed because Annie’s were either side of them, holding them down as their tongues met in the middle.

**'PIRATES'**

All that mattered was the fact that Jeff’s jeans were definitely tighter than they were five minutes ago, and how Annie’s blouse seemed like Jeff’s worst enemy as his fingers curled underneath it’s hem.

_“Now printing. Now printing. Now printing.”_

Jeff’s eyes shot open as the photo booth spoke, his mouth still working on Annie’s, but it soon stopped as she pulled away noticing he wasn’t paying attention. They looked at each other for a second, realising what they were doing.

 _“Should probably get those pictures.”_ Annie whispered before sitting back slightly, brushing down the hair in her face.

 _“Yeah._ ” Jeff replied under his breath as she turned away, standing herself up to get the strips from the little cubby hole compartment.

In her hand she held two lines of photographs; one of her and Jeff pulling half smiles and looking at each other like nothing else mattered, and one of her and Jeff glued to each other’s faces, _knowing_ nothing else mattered.

She looked back at Jeff who was in a daze, wiping his hands along his jeans.

“We should go… don’t want to be late tomorrow.” Annie smiled, trying to make light of the fact that _they’d just made-out._

“Yeah.” is all Jeff could manage.

* * *

 

When they got back to the apartment, Annie turned at the bedroom door, noticing Jeff wasn’t following.

“Are you coming?” Annie asked, watching Jeff as he stroked a hand across the kitchen counter.

“Hmm? Err… no, I think I’ll be fine on the couch.” Annie let out a sigh, realising what that meant.

_Of course, you’re Jeff, and you don’t talk about things when they happen, you just move on and forget about it because it’s easier than having to talk. You’d rather leave me thinking it was a mistake again than actually own up to the fact it happened._

“Should we talk about it?” _I may as well give it a try,_ she thought. He looked up again, swallowing before replying.

“No, everything’s fine. You should get some rest before you go back tomorrow.” Annie nodded.

_That’s your code for, no, everything’s not fine. It was a mistake and I’ll ignore it until you do too._

“Can we talk about it when I get back here after work?” _One last attempt._

“Yeah.” _Better than nothing,_ Annie thought before turning around clicking the door shut, opening up her bag to look at the strips of black and white photographs. A single tear fell from her eye and for the first time since Jeff had arrived in DC, she just wanted to curl up in a ball and be alone. She could do of course, because he’d decided that’s what she needed too… sleeping out on the too-small-for-him couch that he _knew_ would be uncomfortable without her by his side.

She wasn’t sure if it was the nerves of going back to her internship again the next day, or the actual fact that Jeff was still the same old Jeff, but the tears were still falling for some reason.

On the other side of the door, Jeff was on the couch, still in his clothes, a clenched fist banging against his forehead.

_I have to tell her. I’ll set myself a deadline and tell her, or she’ll just move on again. What do you think she meant by ‘letting go of all of this other stuff’? She meant me, because I treated her like dirt. I was a jerk to her. And now she thinks that all over again._

_I thought I’d ruin the night by telling her, so I ruined the night by not telling her. Just because I didn’t come here to tell her, doesn’t mean I can’t. Unless I don’t want to tell her? No, of course I do. I’ve never wanted to do something so badly in my life._

_Then why don’t I go and tell her now? Because she needs rest? Sure, great excuse. She’s twenty-four, she knows when she needs rest. She’s not a kid so I’ve got to stop treating her like one. I know she’s not, I’ve known that for five years now._

_I’ll set myself a deadline. I’ll do something crazy and I’ll be sure to do it. I’ll buy my flights back. Yeah, I’ll buy my flights back… for a week from now. Then I’ll have to tell her. It’s not an excuse, I’m doing it because I know I have to._

_Saying I love you isn’t easy, but it’s easier when you know it’s true, so I’ll do it. I know I will. I’m not setting a deadline because I’m scared… I’m not doing it because I’m scared she won’t say it back… of course not._

_I’ll set a deadline, and if I don’t do it by the end of the week then I would have wasted a couple of hundred bucks and I’ll have to waste some more until I do. But then I’ll have to leave as soon as I’ve said it… but maybe that’s good. Annie can settle into her life again, knowing that that’s what I want and that’s what it all means._

_Right… yeah, that makes sense.  
Doesn’t it?_

Neither of them even noticed that the power was back on.


	10. Who Says You Have to Wait Any Longer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This chapter also picks off just after the previous one, just to make it clearer... also, cheese, but who cares right? I hope I captured the cheese in a realistic way. I'm uploading the next chapter now too as this wasn't that long. So have a treat! But be ware, there may only be one or two chapters left after that... eeek! Enjoy...)

For Jeff, the day felt stupidly long.

Annie had left by the time he’d woken up, leaving a note to say she’d booked a cab so she’d be fine, and that she also had one to pick her up from work. It surprised him, seeing as she hadn’t really been out on her own yet and seeing as it had all happened as she waited for a cab, it was the last thing he’d expected her to do.

With this on his mind he’d texted her throughout the day, once in the morning, once at lunch and once later in the afternoon, _just in case._ She’d replied with a quick, ‘Yes Jeff, I’m fine’ each time, and that was that.

He ate a couple of cookies as he moped around, hoping that Annie wouldn’t notice (but knowing that she would), as well as a smoothie he concocted himself with some blueberries and a banana. It wasn’t great and he could have done without the added fruit sugars, but it was just another thing to do to waste time.

He’d been to the gym and punched his energy out on the same punch bag as Annie had been using, thinking about how he would explain himself. He felt bad wording out ‘I love you’ whilst angrily punching away at something so he stopped and mouthed it out on a treadmill.

After that he popped to the same deli they’d been to a couple of times before now, eating a salad, skipping out the olives as usual. That’s when he’d texted Annie the second time, the conversation where he’d admitted he wanted to become a dad popping into his mind.

At some point afterwards he’d walked so far that he was standing outside of the FBI offices, finding himself squinting to try and spot a familiar face in a window (it was impossible), so he pulled out his phone again and messaged, walking in the direction back to the apartment.

When he got back in he poured himself slightly too much scotch and booked those all-important ‘deadline tickets’, before turning on the TV and watching some random news channel which just made him feel even worse.

It wasn’t that he felt miserable or actually frightful of what might happen… it was just an overall feeling of guilt and underlying nerves. He knew she’d be back anytime soon so he just twiddled his thumbs until she finally did step through the door, hopefully with tear-free eyes and a heart rate that was considered normal.

* * *

 

For Annie, the day felt stupidly short.

She’d left by the time Jeff had woken up, partly on purpose so she didn’t have to deal with it but also just because he seemed to be choosing to lie in. She’d booked a cab and was waiting for it to arrive as she sipped back a coffee that she desperately needed, before taking a breath and locking Jeff inside, making her first _real_ steps alone since the incident.

Her boss was nothing but supportive and understood why Annie had taken the time off, and was happy with the idea of her staying on slightly longer to catch up, which was a relief. She hadn’t missed anything too important as her internship was more about networking and getting a feel for what it was all like. It was about getting her foot in the door.

There were no sudden bursts of panic, even when she met up with the people who had attended Spades on the same night, so she started to relax a bit and get her focus back on. In fact, having focus distracted her from everything anyway so maybe she _should_ have just stepped right back into her work the day after. _Would it really have done that much harm?_

She replied to a couple of messages from Jeff, leaving them short and sweet, quickly turning her phone back off so she didn’t occupy her mind with unwanted thoughts and that was it really.

It was actually refreshing and she was even letting the HR assistant know that she would be back in tomorrow and hopefully continuously after that. She waited around in the reception area as a cab pulled up outside, preparing herself before quickly dashing to the door and pulling herself in.

_I did it! It wasn’t horrible and I actually got some work done. Now all I have to do is deal with Jeff and… I’ll be back to where I was before._

* * *

 

He was making himself a coffee when she walked in, her satchel bouncing off of her blazer covered hip. She sighed, putting it down on the floor before stretching a little and dropping her keys in a little pot by the door. Their eyes finally met as she smiled a little, turning away slightly in the direction of her room.

“I’m gonna’ go get changed.” Jeff pouted over his coffee before doing saying something Annie had always hoped he’d say.

“Annie wait… can we talk?” She stopped and turned, looking at him so he knew she was listening.

“Can we do it outside though? I just… feel weird doing it here.” Annie was left slightly confused as to why Jeff couldn’t just ‘talk’ in her apartment, so she just raised an eyebrow and pouted a little.

“Please?” He insisted.

“What are you gonna’ do, murder me?” Annie joked, causing Jeff to snort under his breath.

“Ha. Ha.”

“Can I get changed first?” Annie asked, looking down at her tight fitting pants. Jeff nodded before sipping back some more coffee, his fingers drumming against the kitchen counter top.

When Annie returned though, Jeff was nowhere to be seen. Annie looked around in puzzlement, not noticing any note or hearing any texts ping up on her phone. _Seriously Jeff, could you send any more mixed messages? Because I don’t think I’m getting enough... I mean, I know you said you wanted to talk outside but you can't even wait?_

She decided to follow her gut, which was usually right when it came to Jeff, so she locked up and padded down the three flights of stairs in her apartment before walking outside, looking left and right, and spotting him on a bench under a tree. Jeff took a deep breath to calm his nerves, whilst Annie took one to calm herself after rushing down all those steps.

The look on his face was one that she’d seen before though and that unsettled her. She perched herself down beside him, her hands in between her legs.

“Are you okay?” Annie asked, surprised that she was actually wondering what might be up with _him_ in the current situation. She should be mad right? But for some reason she wasn’t… as if she knew it was something deeper than just, ‘Oh hey we kissed and I don’t want to talk about it’.

“No.” Jeff finally admitted, looking down at the ground in front of him. Annie turned towards him, scanning his face before he spoke again.

"I keep telling myself that I'm okay because I'm scared that if I stop, I'll actually realise that I'm genuinely not okay. I know I'm not okay, but I'm worried about what will happen when I actually let that become reality."

Annie stopped to take what he was saying in, realising that Jeff was genuinely _talking,_ and the words were making sense in some respects.

"Yeah… well, I guess we're both kind of the same... that's what I've been doing these past few weeks, so I guess we've both been pretty convincing."

"Not really, I know you've not been okay some of the time, I've just been trying to make you feel better. I guess I'm just not that great at it."

"Hey, that's not true. I’ve had a really nice past couple of days. You’re definitely great at it… Look, if I can talk to you about stuff that’s going on, then... you should be able to talk to me too, right?"

"I just..." Jeff paused for a moment or two, preparing himself for what he knew in his heart he needed to finally say, "...there's something I want in my life, and I'm not sure how much longer I can go without it."

“You’re still thinking about becoming a dad?” Annie pulled her face back in a confused smile, making Jeff do the same.

“What? No, no, I don’t want a kid _that_ bad… it’s just… I want...” Jeff finally lifted his gaze up from the ground, his eyebrows twitching. 

And in that short spark of a moment, it all fell into place. The puzzle made sense.

If pictures could paint a thousand words than so could Jeff's eyes. He didn't need to say anything for Annie to understand exactly what he wanted, right there and then.

Annie looked down at Jeff's hands that were resting on each of his knees, her eyes creating new tear drops on her waterline, her heart buzzing with this very familiar feeling of warmth that had been created from just the simple look on his face... and for once, she could clearly define the feeling. For once, she truly understood what it all meant.

She looked back up at Jeff whose eyes were still glued to her, his teeth chewing at the inside of his lip as he waited for her reaction. They looked right at each other, right _through_ each other, right to the place they both knew they belonged with one and other.

For once, they both truly understood what it all meant. Every moment that had lead up to this, finally had some real significance, it finally had meaning. Without looking away, Annie slipped her fingers between Jeff's, as her eyebrows twitched inwards slightly.

"Who says you have to wait any longer?"

Jeff gulped, knowing that there was no way it had gone unnoticed as her grip around his hand tightened. His eyes flicked left and right across her face, the words he'd _really_ been meaning to say right on the tip of his tongue. She knew it too, her lip quivering in to an almost facial question mark, if that was ever possible.

Jeff's lips parted and made way for a shakey breath. Annie could feel everything he was feeling... every ounce of nervousness, all of the fear running through him at the thought of admitting something that you only saved by for someone that meant something. Someone who meant everything.

"...eyeh..." Jeff let out a small snippet of a noise, just like he had those few days ago on the picnic blanket. Annie nodded forward slightly, a tiny reassuring smile curling up on her lips.

"I love you."

Annie was pretty sure her heart skipped a beat when the words finally escaped his mouth. Jeff could almost feel some weight lifting off of his shoulders, as if something more than words had departed with that all important phrase. Annie took a second to take it all in before curving her smile up further, her eyes widening and brightening all at the same time.

"I love you too." Annie almost whispered, making Jeff's eyes flicker again as he double-checked she really meant it. They sat in silence for what felt like an age, just speaking to each other without physically talking.

The gentle brush of Annie's thumb against his meaning more than what either of them would be able to verbally manage. Annie was the first to break though, realising how crazy they were being.

"Why the heck are we not kissing right now?" Annie shrieked a little, making Jeff cringe with a laugh, his chuckle being cut short by Annie's lips pressed up against his, his eyes closing immediately as her hands brushed up around his neck, her fingers threading through the short hairs at the back.

Somehow, through it all, it felt more wholesome than their messy kiss in the stupid kiss-inducing photo booth; it felt more wholesome than the kiss after the stupid Tranny Dance... it felt more wholesome than either of them could have ever dreamed of because finally, they were doing it for one pure and simple reason... love.

* * *

(If Abed were to be directing the moment, Annie could imagine a camera moving around on a crane, zooming out from a height above, a song about 'Rivers and Roads' playing over the sunlight dappled shot that would fizzle out into the fading sunset. It was more perfect than she could have ever imagined... so she was kind of glad he wasn't there to comment on it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ("I keep telling myself that I'm okay because I'm scared that if I stop, I'll actually realise that I'm genuinely not okay. I know I'm not okay, but I'm worried about what will happen when I actually let that become reality." is inspired by an amazing Tumblr set - linked at the end of his note - I wanted to give it credit because I feel like the quote really fits how Jeff was probably feeling through Season 6. It sucks, and it makes me sad, but like Annie said.... who says he has to wait any longer?)
> 
> (Line inspired by: http://myawesomeblog99.tumblr.com/post/135861671995/insp-x-x)


	11. You're Doing That at Our Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Look at me treating you to two chapters! Hope you enjoy it... finally some positivity! Enjoy and leave a comment if you like! I like to chat!)

“I need to tell you something though.”

They were back in the apartment now after having their first kiss as (what Annie wanted to define it) a _couple._ Jeff had suggested that he slept on the couch until they finally got around to going on a date in the next couple of days, begging Annie that she sit tight and let him take the reins. She’d agreed to the first part reluctantly but was genuinely intrigued to see what Jeff might have up his sleeve for their first date.

Currently, he had nothing up there, but it was mainly because he hadn’t really had much time to process the fact that he’d really said it. He’d only stuttered because he was nervous but as soon as she’d sealed the deal and had joked about them not making-out right there and then, he’d calmed down and was able to just enjoy it.

“You’re… _dying_?” Annie teased, as Jeff reheated his coffee that he’d left behind.

“Wow, thanks for that Annie. Way to make me feel even _older_ than I already am.” Annie shrugged as if she really meant it, making him jolt his neck forward.

“I’ll take it back.” Annie paused to think about it.

“How can you take back saying I love you?”

“Like this; I don’t love you anymore.”

“First of all, that’s not true because I was joking, and second of all, that’s not taking it back, that’s saying you don’t _anymore._ ”

“Fine… err… I never loved you?”

“Almost, but you still _said_ I love you, so although you’re implying you never did, you one hundred percent, definitely said I love you about half an hour ago.” Jeff crossed his arms, mulling it over. _You’re right, it really is hard to take it back… not that I’d want to._ He shook his head to say whatever, picking up his coffee that was now piping hot all over again.

“So… what were you going to tell me?”

“Err… well, I actually booked my flight back.”

“Oh.” Annie immediately blurted out, a little disappointedly.

“When for?”

“Sunday, so six days if you’re counting.” Annie’s face drooped a little as she realised what that meant. _Six days to fit in six years’ worth of what we missed out on. Great timing as usual, Jeff._

“Well _obviously_ I’m counting!” Annie rounded the corner to stand in front of him, making him put down his coffee because now they were officially going to ‘do this’ he was totally allowed to pull her close. He did it, leaning down so his forehead was pressed up against hers.

“I promise I’ll make it worth it. I’m just an idiot who got scared and decided to spend the very limited amount of money he has on a ticket.” Annie frowned before resting her head on his chest, her arms tucking around him. _I could definitely get used to this being a regular thing._

* * *

 

The date is set for two days’ time, on Wednesday at 8.30pm. Annie recognises the combination and is sceptical of the idea at first but Jeff comforts her by giving her the reason why; he wants her to think of the time of day as something positive (if the date goes well that is – she reassures him it will because they love each other, and nothing can change that), and luckily it works not only because it sounds like a good plan, but also because Jeff had genuinely thought about that small a detail.

Annie goes back to her internship on Tuesday, but things feel a bit on edge because they’re both attempting to ignore each other so it feels a bit more like a _proper_ first date. Jeff even insists that they keep their make-out sessions to a very bare minimum (literally, dropping it to only a peck on the lips) because he wants everything to seem more impressive when it comes to it.

He even pulled her to the side before she left for work because he wanted to set the record straight.

“You have to promise me that there are no low expectations, okay? And also, no high ones either because I really don’t know what you want… but I feel like I probably owe you something so, just, yeah.” Annie smiled with a laugh, reaching her hands up around his neck.

 _“Jeff…_ you do realise that you don’t _have_ to put that much effort into it. It’s one date, it will be fine.” Reaching up on her tippy toes she pressed a kiss to his lips before landing back down.

 _“I love you…_ ” Annie called from the door in a sing-song voice making Jeff smile shyly before calling out behind her.

“Love you too.”

Whilst she’s out, Jeff finishes up his final plan for the night. He’ll take her to a nice restaurant (he’s thinking of finding a rooftop place because he’s pretty sure that classes as romantic), then they’ll walk around for a bit before Annie hopefully says the magic words of ‘take me home’ and finally they will end up back at the 701 apartment, and will _hopefully_ engage in something a bit more than a peck on the lips.

There was also another part of the plan which involved heading back to J.Crew, which was exactly what he did when the rooftop reservation was made. When he was finally there, he scoured the racks for a while, first in the men’s department (just in case anything new had popped up – he already had his outfit) before walking over to the women’s, suddenly realising something.

_Crap._

He pulled out his phone and scrolled to the first person in his contact’s he knew would know this all important fact, _other_ than Britta, who he didn’t really want to have to deal with. He called Abed, and luckily after the second ring, he picked up.

"Hey Abed, you're a robot, you know these things, right? What's Annie's size?" Jeff asked, holding his phone on his shoulder as he tried to find what he was looking for.

"Hmm, what size? Shoe size, dress size, pant size, bra size?" Jeff almost lost grip of it when Abed listed the last one.

"Dress size."

"Are you going on a date?" Jeff jolted his head back, trying to avoid getting any funny looks as he poked his head under a rail that was hanging above him, still on the hunt.

"What?! No?! Why would you say that?"

"Because why else would you be buying her a dress?"

"I'm not buying her a dress!"

"Then why do you need her size?" Jeff sighed, giving in to Abed’s interrogation.

"Because... because... ugh, look fine, we're going on a date, not a big deal."

"I didn't say it was."

"Can you please just tell me her size so I can hang up?"

"She's a 4 but sometimes a 6 in the top department." Jeff pouted… _how does that help?_

"Ugh, great, what does that mean?"

"Do you want to know her bra size?"

"What? Abed! How do you even know that? But, point taken." Jeff tilted his head, realising Abed was probably right, it wasn’t as if Annie was _lacking_ in that area.

"Is that all?"

"Yes..."

"Why aren't you hanging up?"

"I'm gonna'."

"Jeff, if you're waiting for me to tell you her bra size, you might be waiting a while. I only said that because I knew you would react." _Dammit._

"Seriously Abed?" Jeff span around, scanning the area for something that looked vaguely similar to what he could remember.

"Good luck on your date."

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna' need it."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because... I don't know what kind of date she's expecting."

"But you love each other so she probably just wants you to do whatever you want."

"Why would you say we love each other?"

"Because you do."

"Abed, you're freaking me out." _How would he know that? Is it really that obvious?_

"Did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Jeff swapped hands and shoulders with his phone as he flicked through some more options.

"That you love her?"

"...yeah."

"Then there you go."

"Yeah but what kind of dates does she usually go on?"

"First dates, a meal at a restaurant. Second dates, something more casual and third dates, I don't know, but sometimes she wouldn't be back until the next day."

"Third date?!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I just didn't expect Annie to be that... quick." Jeff raised an eyebrow. It was understandable he didn’t know about that side of Annie’s life, right? Why would she tell him?

"I think she does it because she gets lonely easily. She knows the difference between sex and love though Jeff, even you know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When you were sleeping with Britta you were just using each other. You aren't going to do that with Annie."

"No... because it's different."

"Because you love her?"

"Fine, you made your point, Abed." Jeff shuffled his phone again, finally laying his eyes on what he thought was the _one._

"But it will happen on the first date, I mean, with your six years’ worth of UST, it's rather predictable that it will happen on the night."

"Abed, I don't really want to be talking about this with you... and what the heck is freakin' UST? Annie said something about that the other day too."

"Unresolved sexual tension." _Oh._

"Yeah... okay, that makes a bit more sense than Annie blurting out 'University of Science and Technology'."

"You were having UST? I'm not surprised... are you sleeping together already?"

"What?! No, Abed, we're not." Jeff shook his head even though Abed couldn’t see, it only being noticed by the woman standing next to him who had been giving him strange looks the whole time.

"I don't mean having sex Jeff, I meant, sharing a bed."

"...fine, sure, yeah, it's not a big deal Abed, we're both adults, we've been handling it fine."

"And you've been supporting Annie when she wakes up with night terrors or flashbacks?" _Seriously Abed?_

"Only because I'm right there."

"And you've had seve-."

"Abed, I'm hanging up now."

"Okay."

"Thanks buddy."

"Bye Jeff."

"Mhmm."

 _BINGO._ Jeff pulled out the dress, checked the label and quite literally fist bumped the air, another odd glare being sent his way by the equally as strange looking woman. He reached the check-out, paying a little bit extra to receive a gift box with tissue paper, the price tag being whipped off but kept safe just in case Jeff had to return it (which he really hoped he wouldn’t have to).

“Thanks.” Jeff said, taking the bag from the cashier lady’s hand.

“No problem, I hope she likes it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

* * *

 

It was officially Wednesday evening and all Jeff was doing was pacing back and forth in the living room. He’d never been so nervous for a date before, and the crazy thing was, it was with someone he’d known for six years. There was nothing more that he really had to learn, so it should be a walk in a park.

So why, oh, why, was he freaking out so much? Perhaps it was the fact that Annie was due back in from her internship any moment then, and as soon as she were to step foot in the door it would be the start of a ticking clock, counting down the moments until they both stood out and were officially on a _date._

A date, meaning that they were _dating._  
Meaning that things were official.  
Jeff gulped… but then realised that he was being a wuss. He couldn’t chicken out from this because it was what he wanted and apparently what she wanted too. He wasn’t going to mess this up… he couldn’t. This was Annie. He wasn’t going to lose Annie.

 _I’m not going to lose you,_ Jeff thought as she did indeed step through the door, a smile on her face as she too, realised that in around two hours (she wasn’t sure of the exact time – she’d have to ask), they would be off out doing whatever Jeff had planned.

“What’s the time?” Jeff flicked out his wrist, realising it was six o’clock on the dot, which meant he only had two and a half hours to perfect his look. For someone who usually slumped out of doing much (he was trying to change that – _no low expectations_ ), it was surprising how much time he genuinely did take on his appearance.

“Six.”

“Oh gosh, I have to wash my hair and everything.” Annie pulled off her blazer to reveal her tight fitting blouse that quite honestly looked like it was about to burst at the buttons. Jeff laughed at her little before catching her as she walked across the room, gritting his teeth as he held her close.

She looked up at him, scrunching up her eyes as he looked down at her, a smile curling up the corners of his lips.

“What?” Annie asked, her eyes still looking suspicious.

“What do you mean, ‘what’?” Jeff asked, reminding them both of when Jeff had stripped off at the gym.

“Is this gonna’ be a thing now?” Jeff smiled back at her, wanting to touch their noses together but knowing he should wait.

“Nope.” He replied, unravelling her from his grasp, letting her free to get ready. She locked the door behind her, smiling to herself before noticing the white box on the bed, black tissue paper poking out the edges. Her suspicious eyes were back as she moved closer, fiddling with a corner edge before lifting it up, carefully placing the lid on the side, making sure not to damage it for reuse purposes.

She lifted up the first layer of tissue paper, noticing a little handwritten notelet laying between a sheet.

‘You could one hundred percent pull it off, no doubt about it – J x’

Annie bit down on her lip, taking a steady breath as she peeled back the final layer to reveal the dress she’d been looking at when they’d been on their shopping trip together. She smiled, squeezing in shoulders to hold in a giddy squeal. She peered closer at the sizing label, noting that he had in fact chosen the correct size (oblivious to the fact Abed had been involved), before holding it out in front of her. 

She lay it back down on the bed before creeping over to the door, unlocking it and scurrying out to Jeff in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around him from behind.

“Ohh.” Was Jeff’s shaky and shy response as she collided into him.

“Thank you.” Jeff folded in his lips with a smile, looking down at her hands wrapped around his chest, realising what she was talking about.

“Yeah well don’t expect it all the time.” Jeff said, peering down at her behind his arm, patting her on the back.

“Well, _duh-doy,_ dummy. Thank you.”

“Now go!” Jeff patted her again so he could be left alone, feeling pretty chuffed with himself even if his credit card didn’t agree.

* * *

 

Jeff was almost finished getting ready. He hadn’t heard anything from Annie other than a couple of winces when her curling iron got a little too close to her ear, but by the time on his watch, she had to be nearly ready too. Except, maybe she was one step ahead because there was one very important detail he’d left out.

“Annie, I’ve just got to go get something, I’ll be back in like five minutes, okay?” Jeff called out, grabbing his emergency keys from the pot.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting.”

“Awesome.” Jeff called out before rushing out the door, taking the elevator before dashing out to a nearby florist he’d noticed on his now, daily, gym trips. He dashed across the road, trying his best to avoid any lamp posts or dodgy looking people who could imperfect his perfectly ironed out white shirt.

He hadn’t even thought about what he was going to pick up so he kicked himself when he lent over the counter to pay for a bunch of rather simple red roses. Abed would be once again strangling him around the neck for everything being so, damn, _cliché._

He was really five minutes, his fast paced walking catching up on him as he burst back in the apartment, time slowing down before his eyes as he caught a glimpse of Annie. He stopped in the doorway, the roses now dangling in his hands, gravity starting to play its part, so he slid them onto the side, his eyes still taking their time to look her up and down.

“Holy… crap. You look… incr… _beautiful._ ” Jeff said, the words gliding off of his tongue effortlessly, because anyone could see it was true.

Annie shyly rolled her eyes, brushing a curled strand of hair away from her face. She had it up in a side braid/bun combination that was pinned underneath her right ear, the left being perfectly framed by loose ends. The dress fitted her perfectly too, the cut-out straps crossing over her perfectly highlighted collarbone that Jeff had a serious urge to pepper with kisses but he knew he’d have to wait.

He stood forward towards her, looking down at his feet.

“Now I feel awful because I’m in this crappy pair of shoes that don’t even match because they’re all I have with me other than a pa-.”

Annie’s lips sealed his, her hands cupping his face as he adjusted to this sudden change in… conversation. Annie pulled away before Jeff had a chance to take it any further, her eyes looking wider than he’d ever seen them before.

“I just wanted to shut you up, because you look pretty great… although,” Annie brushed her thumb on the side of his lip, “…maybe I shouldn’t have worn red lipstick.”

“At least now I don’t feel so bad for buying you _red_ roses because I’m that guy. They can match.” Annie laughed a little, looking over to the bunch that he’d dashed out to buy last minute, her heart swelling inside her chest.

“Oh well, nobody’s ever bought me flowers on a date before so you get extra points for that.”

“It’s eight-twenty, we better go.” Jeff said, checking his watch. Annie nodded before grabbing her clutch from the couch, walking a few steps in white lace up, strappy heels that she’d bought for experimental purposes.

Jeff stood by the door, holding out an arm for her.

“Mi’lady.” Annie smiled back at him, before responding with her all-important phrase.

“Mi’lord.”

They walked down the hall together, still arm in arm, their voices fading off into the distance.

_“You’re doing that at our wedding.”_

_“Marriage?! Jeez Annie, we haven’t even got to the restaurant yet.”_

_“Oh come on, I know you want to.”_

_“I never said that. You better be careful, otherwise the dates off let alone the wedding.”_

_“If you want to be a dad, you’re going to have to get married at some point.”_

_“I’m pretty sure everyone’s ignored that rule.”_

_“You know what I mean.”_


	12. Only When I'm With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Oh look another chapter, aren't you nice? Fluffiness awaits you. Leave a comment if you wish because the end is in sight! Enjoy...)

Jeff looked down and smiled to himself.

Annie was resting herself on his shoulder, the sheets tucked up underneath her arms, concealing herself even though there wasn’t much more she could hide from him now. He was transfixed on the perfect valley in her chest, dipping below, glistening from the events of the previous night.

* * *

 

He didn’t want to get too ahead of himself but he was pretty sure things had gone well. The rooftop restaurant had been a big hit, and the setting created a perfect backdrop to Annie as she sat opposite him, her eyes twinkling as a small tea light burned away between them.

They basically talked non-stop, meaning there was no time for awkward pauses but plenty of time for obvious flirting. Even when Annie had brought up a more serious topic, it had been easy to sail through it… she’d looked over and spotted a pregnant lady which had of course reminded her of Jeff’s ‘I want to be a dad’ conversation.

“So how many kids would you actually want?”

“Jeez Annie, what are all these questions and suggestions on our _first_ date?” Jeff smirked a little before his eyes caught onto who she’d been looking at.

“No but seriously… I can imagine you with maybe two, no more. I’m not sure Jeff Winger could handle _three_ kids running around.” He’d thought about it for himself a moment, thinking back to that vision he’d had out of sheer fear of losing Annie.

“I don’t know… one? What about you? I don’t think I actually know what you’d want.” Annie had folded up her serviette after dabbing her mouth.

“I don’t know… I feel like people presume I’d just want to be a mother and settle down straight away. I mean, I do want that… I’ve already told you, I want to start having some consistency in my life… but, being a mom has never been a _top_ priority. I’d obviously want kids at some point… but if I _have_ ever thought about it, I’ve always imagined me being thirty-something and having my job locked down.

I’m more interested in having a marriage that lasts and just being happy with someone rather than having a kid to handle… but then I feel like if I actually thought about it, and _planned_ it, like I like to do, I’d probably warm up to the idea.”

He’d worked out the math whilst she was still talking… if she had a baby by thirty-four, then he could still legitimately be a forty-year old father… he might have to wait ten years but maybe that’s how long they’d _both_ need to plan it. He’d shaken himself out of the thought, reminding himself of something he’d only just pointed out to Annie herself… _First. Date._

After finishing up with their meals, Jeff had whisked them away, taking the bottle of champagne he’d ordered with them, sharing a few sips between each other, the bottle looking cartoonishly large in Annie’s tiny hands.

They walked and talked, stopping at one point when Annie had a burning question in her mind.

“Can I ask you something?” Annie had twizzled on the spot so that she was stood in front of him, one of both of their hands joined in the middle as Jeff’s other held onto the neck of the now _empty_ champagne bottle.

“You have a lot of questions, don’t you?” Annie rolled her eyes a little as he stood over her… in that exact moment she’d been thinking about the fact that she hadn’t seen Jeff without a beard in what felt like an age. It was obviously the style he was going for now, not that she was complaining…

“So does that mean I _can_ ask you, or I _can’t_ ask you? You have to be clear with these things now, you know that right?” He nodded.

“What did you mean when you said you’d let me go?” He really hadn’t been expecting that.

“I…” He took a deep breath and just went for it.

“There was this moment… a while ago… when I realised that, you were right, the whole time… that you weren’t imagining something… but, I had it in my head, and quite frankly, I _still_ do that… I’m an _asshole._ I know that there are much better guys out there that deserve you way more than I ever will. You’re an incredible person, and I will _never_ live up to that… and I _never_ want to get in the way of you either.

Yeah, at first maybe it was a little bit about the fact that I’m older, but it’s not that anymore. I just never want to hold you back, so I held _myself_ back… and sure, at times it hurt like hell… especially when I found out Britta was moving into your apartment because that was just another layer on top… I was all of a sudden this guy on the outside.

You all had these in-jokes and weird stuff you’d talk about and I’d just be sat there thinking I was missing it all. It wasn’t the same, and to have you in amongst it all too… I hated it. I was waiting for this moment for the clouds to break, but I never saw it happen. I’m not saying it _never_ happened, I mean, let’s be honest I probably should have told you the day after but… I’m not like that.

I need time to process this stuff. I layer excuses on top of excuses just because I’m scared of the consequences… it all just adds up to the reason I’m such a jerk because I never just tell you straight… and I’m sorry, Annie, I really am.”

Jeff could clearly remember the look on her face… it was similar to how she’d reacted to his ‘I let you go’ speech before; a mix of concern, surprise and… another thing that Jeff couldn’t quite pin a label on.

“You’re not an asshole Jeff… surely you realise that by now? I mean, _seriously,_ what asshole tells someone he _loves_ that he let them go… _because_ he’s an asshole? An asshole would have tracked me down and forced me into something. An asshole – okay I really want to stop saying the word asshole now because when you think about it, it’s kind of gross... – A _jerk_ would have told me to stay and held me back because he cares more about himself than the person he _thinks_ he cares for.

You’re not a jerk Jeff… you’ve got to stop telling yourself that. So sure, you have a hard time talking about things but so does everyone… even if it got under my skin sometimes, it doesn’t make you… a bad person. It… makes you a… _person._ If anything, _I’m_ the one who doesn’t deserve _you!_ Who am I? I don’t deserve some… handsome, silver tongued… sophisticated, scotch-drinking…” Jeff just looked at her, biting down on his teeth.

“You get what I mean! I don’t deserve you, okay! Nobody gets to define who or what they deserve… we have to let each other want what we want, remember? …also, what did you mean by, ‘I probably should have told you the day after’?” He gave himself a mental slap on the face before finally getting around to telling her, over a year later.

“You’re going to hate me.”

“No I won’t, unless you murder one of our friends… attack me, lie to me constantly or do something vaguely along those lines… I’ll never hate you Jeff.” He inhaled deeply before continuing.

“You remember when we were all trying to save Greendale? When that whole Subway thing went down?” Annie nodded, “I’ll admit I wasn’t very optimistic and what I did was stupid, with Britta, that whole thing... I would gladly go back and correct but also maybe I wouldn’t because then I would never end up realising something…

I turned all of you around and I looked at each of you. I looked at the Dean, I looked at Britta and Abed… I looked at you. I thought about all of this weird stuff you’d all said to me in the past… like the Dean asking if I was saving him, or when Abed was talking about voiceovers… but when I looked at you… I didn’t even have to think about it. I just… _ah, this going to sound so cheesy…_ ” Jeff had lent his neck back, whispering to the sky.

“I thought about… you know, our little thing, the whole…” He’d gestured with his arm before mumbling, “Mi’lady thing.”

“The thing was I _knew_ something was going to happen, because otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. It was like I needed to prove myself that what I was doing with Britta was just out of fear and being an idiot. But I looked at you… and I still don’t know if I believe it but… it did _something,_ because it opened the stupid door.

That’s when I realised that… I _love_ you… and I want to be with you.” Annie had folded her lip in, her eyes glossing over as she steadied her breathing.

“I think we should go back.” Her words were all breathy and soft and Jeff was pretty sure he had felt his eye twitch and his heart literally pound inside of him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

When they’d got back to the apartment, everything slowed down again, as Jeff slipped Annie’s clutch away from her hands, before looking down at her… taking in every inch of beauty that was before him. He rested a hand on her shoulder, looking between her eyes.

“Hey.”

He remembered how her little eyebrows had twerked inwards before she’d replied.

“Hey.”

He’d clenched his teeth before leaning forward just a few centimetres, her own lean confirming that they were both on the same page, before his lips landed on hers, moving at a pace that felt right, standing closer before their arms wrapped around each other, Annie having to stand on tippy toes even in her high heels, just so she could get a good reach.

He'd started to finally make his way to where he’d so badly wanted to press his lips before they’d left… pushing soft, warm kisses along her jaw and down her neck as she tucked herself up onto his shoulder, letting out tiny gasps as his hands skimmed around her, moving her closer as he carried on trailing kisses down her shoulder… he’d opened his eyes just for a split second, the very-nearly-gone, barely noticeable bruise on Annie’s neck coming into view.

He slowed down even further, pulling away before looking at Annie who looked slightly in a daze.

 _“Are you okay?”_ He whispered, receiving a nod in response.

 _“I forgot.”_ Annie nodded again, sending him a smile of reassurance.

_“You have to promise me, that you’re okay. I don’t want to do this if you’re not.”_

_“I trust you.”_

_“You promise?”_

_“Yeah.”_ He hesitated before closing the gap between them again, moving towards her shoulder once more, finding a spot between her neck and collarbone that she seemed to respond to, her hands slipping around the collar of his shirt. He held her up, a hand fisted in her hair, the other around her waist as her feet lifted off the ground.

He’d moved them towards the bedroom, her legs hooking around his waist as she tilted his head back slightly, their lips meeting once again before they stood back down in the room. Annie had taken a shaky breath, but not one that sounded as sultry as before.

_“Are you okay? You really need to tell me if you’re not ready Annie.”_

_“No… no… I’m fine… I’m just… it’s silly, it doesn’t matter.”_

_“No, it really does, I’m not going to do this unless you promise me you’re okay. Please?”_

_“I’m fine… it’s not about… that… I’m just… nervous. I don’t want to do something… wrong…” _Annie shook her head nervously, cringing at herself. Jeff scrunched his eyebrows in.

_“What? Annie, it’s fine… look, I just don’t want you to do something you’re not ready for.”_

_“What?! No, no, I am, I just… can we take it slow?”_ Jeff had gulped at the question… usually he didn’t _go_ slow but quite honestly he didn’t want anything to go quicker, he’d wanted it to last as long as possible.

 _“Yeah… of course.”_ Jeff nodded, his eyes dropping to her lips for a second, before moving to her hands that were now working their way up his shirt, reaching his top button. He watched her for a moment before continuing where they’d left off, letting her do her thing.

 _“Can you… err…?”_ Annie nodded towards his shirt so he could peel it off, crumpling it down on the floor besides them. Then he was cradling her head, pulling her close, their pace picking up so he could feel around for the zipper on her dress, a _sultry_ sound escaping her lips once again.

He was pulling it down, the smooth skin of her back revealing itself, only a simple, black strapless bra in the way as he shimmied it down, the fabric bunching at her hips and yeah, there had totally been a pair of lacey black panties showing down below. As they both let out gasps of satisfaction, Jeff made his way to the main attraction around the front, nuzzling himself, his stubble leaving a pink trail as he moved.

 _“Holy crap.”_ Jeff whispered against her as Annie remembered she wasn’t wearing anything too special underneath.

_“Sorry it’s nothing special.”_

_“What?!”_

_“I mean my bra, dummy…”_ The thought of Annie knowing exactly what he meant made him laugh as he recalled it… _of course she knew._

 _“Oh well, we can get rid of that problem…”_ Jeff sneaked his hands towards her back, the touch making her push up against him as they still stood in each other’s arms. He let the clasp go, before swinging the piece of material to the floor, moving back to where he ‘belonged’.

 _“B… uh, b… bed.”_ Annie’s whimper was enough for him to go insane, sliding her down onto the sheets to admire her fully as she magically worked at his belt buckle. Her dress was still covering another very important attraction, so he got to work on that.

Soon she was calling out his name and him, hers, as her perfectly painted finger nails (the fingers of which he was obsessed with) were dragging down his back as he made her gasp even further, her chest heaving against his.

Jeff fell to her side, and if it were ever possible, his face had been in even more of daze than the time she’d kissed him to prove a point that man was evil. Annie’s hair had completely fallen out, a few stray bobby pins finding their new home down the back of the bed, but she honestly couldn’t have cared less.

 _“You were right.”_ She’d whispered, looking up at the ceiling as she regained focus.

 _“What?”_ Jeff turned his head, a hand tucked underneath it as he too tried to refocus, his mind fuzzy from the pure pleasure of moments ago.

 _“We’re so in sync, we’re like a perfect duet, or great seeeeeex.”_ Jeff huffed out a laugh, dropping his mouth open.

_“Yeah… holy crap.”_

_“You say that a lot.”_

_“Only when I’m with you.”_

* * *

 

He pulled her closer, her eyes fluttering as she shifted on the pillows, before she looked up and smiled at him.

“You’re ridiculous.” Annie hummed questioningly, leaning on her elbow a little, the sheets dropping a little lower.

“Look at you… I’m all… tired and gross and you’re… perfect.”

“No I’m not…”

“You cannot say that after last night.”

“Ew... so you’re saying I _wasn’t_ perfect _before_ we… you know.”

“…had sex?” Annie rolled her eyes before completely resting on her elbow, her leg nudging on Jeff’s as she moved, making her realise that Jeff was one hundred percent naked.

“Ugh, fine, yeah, so are you saying I _wasn’t_ perfect _before_ we had sex… made love, kicked boots, banged, screwed, whatever.” Annie waved a hand in the air as Jeff cringed.

“Okay so maybe it was better without you saying it in every different variation.” He brushed a hand up to his face, not believing that he was having a morning-after conversation with Annie.

“Oh the list could still go on… but, you still haven’t answered.”

“Hmm… nope, you weren’t perfect before.”

“Huh!” Annie swatted at him, receiving a devious grin in return.

“You suck.” She teased, laying back down on her back.

“You can.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in before she attacked him with more hand swats, a mischievous throaty chuckle coming from Jeff as she cringed before realising Jeff’s hand was trailing down her stomach, making her throat catch. She turned her Disney eyes on, looking up at him as if to want more.

“ _Jeff…_ you could be even more perfect yourself if you stopped doing that and made us breakfast? I have to go in like forty minutes so we could have it in bed… it would be kind of mean not to, seeing as somebody decided to book his flight for this Sunday…” Annie walked her fingers up his arm, her eyes still going strong.

“ _Annie…_ you could be even more perfect yourself if you stopped doing that. You have to go in like forty minutes so we could have _it_ in bed…” Annie swatted him again, letting out another ‘Eww’ in disgust.

“Please?” Annie asked, her eyes back in play.

“Please?” Jeff tilted his head forward.

“The sad truth is that you know you’ll never win.” Jeff took a deep breath, closing his eyes before whipping the sheet off of him so he could stand and clothe himself. Annie’s cheeks rushed with colour as her eyes dropped to a _certain_ area, before he left the room.

“Ha!”


	13. Do You Want To Remember?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The final chapter.... dah-dah! Hope you've enjoyed it :) I'm probably not going to write anything for a while so if you want something else to read, click on my profile as I have a four part series that's already been completed. If you do have any prompts/ideas though, leave it in a comment and maybe I'll get to work sometime! Thanks... x)

Before they know it, it’s already Saturday and they’re both getting ready for Jeff’s departure the next day. After their date on Wednesday, Jeff arrived at Annie’s internship at the end of each day; taking her to their picnic spot on Thursday (before calling a cab at the speed of light because they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other) before then going bowling on Friday (the prize being ‘the winner decides what happens in bed’).

Today though, they were packing Jeff’s stuff (Annie was insistent they go straight home so they didn’t have to think any more about it until it actually came to dropping him off at the airport) and all they could think about was each other.

Jeff’s mind kept thinking about what he could do to make things easier… he hadn’t been in a proper relationship since what, Slater? And he’d never _ever_ been in a long distance one so everything was just so new.

Annie’s mind kept thinking about why Jeff had to leave _now._ There was still at least two weeks left of the summer, so he could have stayed on longer. He’d reassured her that it was for the best; she needed some alone time, even if things were finally going to start working out between them… that’s exactly what they needed to do for now – work things out.

With those thoughts in mind whilst they packed together, Jeff picked out a couple of times he thought he’d leave there… specifically the white shirt that he’d picked up from their J.Crew shopping trip.

“Oh, here’s your shirt.” Annie folded it up into a neat little square before passing it over to him, the feel of it between her fingers and the little navy details giving her a weird feeling all over… one that sent her right back to that night.

“It’s alright, you can keep it.” Annie jolted her head back in confusion, the shirt still lying flat out in her hand.

“What?” She asked, puzzled.

“I said it’s fine, you can keep it. You looked better in it than me anyway.” Jeff said, a flashback of the morning-after, when she’d sneaked up behind him in the kitchen… the sleeves dangling off her arms like tentacles… the hem cutting off mid-thigh, making it very aware that she was wearing nothing but his shirt.

“ _Jeff…_ are you suggesting that I should keep it so that I can have a _reminder_ of you whilst I’m here?” She asked, a teasing tone in her voice. Jeff just shrugged, carrying on with his packing duties. Annie tilted her head in thought before unfolding it, throwing it onto her bed from the doorway. _Since you suggested it then…_

“Oh, err, how did these get in here? Not sure these are mine…” Jeff hooked a pair of Annie’s panties on his little finger, dangling them out in front of him. Annie mouthed ‘O’ at him, her cheeks reddening a little before she realised something… they looked at each other for a moment before Jeff cottoned onto what she was thinking.

“ _Annie…_ are you suggesting that I should keep these so that I can have a _reminder_ of you whilst you’re here?” Then they both just scrunched up their noses at the thought.

“ _Yeah,_ maybe we’re not quite there yet… I mean, a shirt is a little different to my… underwear… and, how do I really know you won’t just put them in your ‘box’?” Annie eyed him as he carried on holding them out.

“What do you mean my ‘box’?” Jeff mimicked her air quotation marks, the little scrap of fabric swaying as he moved.

“You know… your… _box…_ of… things.” Jeff looked between her and his finger before realising what she was on about.

“ _Oh…_ right, that, yeah, I got rid of that.”

“You did?!”

“What do you mean, _you did?”_ Annie shrugged, her eyebrow pointing up to confirm the fact that she was genuinely surprised.

“I got rid of it… I realised it was kind of gross and if I _were_ to ever get into a relationship, I’m not too sure how the Mrs would approve… or you… it was kind of weird when you brought it up.”

“Hm.” Annie piped out, making Jeff tilt his head.

“What was that?” He asked as she brushed a finger along the back of the couch suspiciously.

“Why would you find it weird _me_ talking about it?”

“I don’t know… because…” Yeah, he was stumped with that one.

“ _Because…_ even then, you were kind of thinking about there being a possibility of an ‘us’, you just didn’t know it yet?” Jeff nodded slowly, realising he still had her underwear wrapped around his finger.

“Hm.”

“Would you stop with the ‘hm’s’ please? Also, what am I doing with these?” Jeff swung them around, impressed with how fast he could spin them without them flying off into oblivion.

“Just give them here.” Annie decided, catching them from a good shot, before flinging them back with even better precision, hitting Jeff right in the middle of his face.

“Why would you do that?” Jeff squeaked, closing his eyes before looking at the lace in-between his legs.

“I just wanted to hit you with them.” Annie shrugged a shoulder, before being thrown them back. She decided (without telling Jeff), that she’d sneak them into his case later on… just because, _why not?_

After packing up the main contents of Jeff’s bag (minus his airport outfit and two pairs of boxers), Annie joined him back in the kitchen with two familiar looking items.

“Pick one.” Annie said, sliding two strips of black and white pictures in front of him. He pouted at her, looking down at his options… a blur of their messy kiss _or_ a selection of smiles and odd looks.

“That one.” Jeff said pointing, before picking it up and giving it a closer inspection.

“Good, I wanted the other one anyway.”

“Why would you want that one?” Jeff asked, still looking closely at the pictures that he could cover with just his thumbnail.

“Well, why would you want that one?” Annie asked, sitting up on the kitchen counter.

“Because it’s _hot._ ” Jeff flashed the strip back at her, before stuffing it in the back pocket of his jeans.

“Ah well, I like this one so it doesn’t matter, does it really?” Annie sighed contently before pulling Jeff between her legs with her feet.

“I’ve finished packing.” Jeff stated.

“Have you now?” Annie swung her legs either side of his own as he lent on his hands either side of her thighs.

“Mhm. Nothing left to do… and we _kind_ of finished all of those Netflix episodes you wanted to watch so you know, what else are we going to do?” Jeff asked, hinting towards the obvious answer.

“Hmm… let me think… ooh! We forgot to do those lesson plans for you! This is your last chance buddy!” Jeff’s face literally dropped. She was being serious. Drop dead serious.

“Why do I love you again?” Annie hummed, looking up in thought.

“I don’t know.”

“Me neither. I was _clearly_ hinting towards something else but instead you’ve dragged me into planning lessons? Seriously? I really don’t know why I love you.” Jeff shook his head, his lips pierced inwards into a straight line.

“Because you know that kind of thing makes me happy, which makes you happy, which then makes _us_ happy, which then _leads_ to the opportunity of us doing something else afterwards.” Jeff sighed, the tiniest glimmer of a smile in his eyes.

“Still don’t why.”

* * *

 

Jeff was standing with his case by the front door, tapping his foot as he waited for Annie to finish in the bathroom before they finally got going. He wishes he could have said she was making them late, but she’d planned it so he would have at least two hours to spare so really she was just dragging out even longer.

“Annie, come on!” He called out, just as she reappeared.

“Jeff, come on!” She teased, shaking her head a little before standing up next to him, making him roll his eyes.

“We could still have time for a little something-something… might cut my spare time down to about an hour and a half but you know, that’s not too bad.” Annie was now rolling her eyes, grabbing her keys to unlock the door.

“Oh, do you have your key by the way? That was actually my spare… I mean, I can get another one cut, and maybe it would be good if you had a set for an emergency… _orifyoueverwantedtosurprisemeyouknowit’snotabigdealoranything…”_ Annie mumbled to herself, receiving a crooked eyebrow in return.

“Err… so do you want them or not?” Jeff scooped them from his jacket pocket, dangling them in front of her. She paused for a moment… _oops, probably should have told him that…_

“Actually… maybe I better… it’s just, I don’t actually know how long I’m going to be here for… I still don’t even know how much longer they’ll extend my internship for, and after that… well… I’ve been thinking of applying to Quantico…” Jeff slumped his shoulder on the doorframe as she told him, aware that it was probably unlikely that Annie would be coming back to Greendale anytime soon.

“So… I should probably have them then, right?” Jeff nodded, making Annie sigh as she slipped them into her purse.

“ _Jeff…?”_

“What?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I still don’t know for sure… I might not even get in, and there’s funding and… I still might have to come back to finish up things… maybe I’ll go to Denver to finish up my degree. It’s not a final decision, okay?” Annie bit her lip as she watched him react, seeing him zone out slightly. Jeff was _not_ good with big news or change… _Noted._

“Yeah, no, it’s fine… ignore how I’m reacting… see, this is exactly what I don’t want. I don’t want to hold you back or anything, I’m not important okay, so… don’t worry about it.”

“You are important, that’s not true! But… we should go.”

“Yeah.” Jeff put a hand to the small of her back as they finally made their way out, his case in hand as they made their way to a cab.

They sat side by side the whole way there, not saying much other than a few things about Jeff’s flight details… Annie typing them into her phone so she could track him landing safely. They were soon at the airport… Jeff already noticing Annie’s breathing becoming slightly uneven.

They stood outside of security, Jeff’s bag now down on the floor as they prepared to say goodbye.

“Are you going to be okay?” Jeff asked, nodding his head downwards so he was closer to her level.

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine. I’ll be fine.” He was now touching down on her forehead, placing a kiss on her hairline before meeting their noses in the middle. They were both going a little cross-eyed so Jeff pulled away slightly, smiling.

“Can you promise me not to have such bad timing in the future? So like… don’t marry me when I actually _do_ have a job, and then take some fancy job offer yourself on the other side of the world or anything…” Jeff snorted, his smile widening.

“Not quite sure there are going to be any fancy job offers coming my way anytime soon… or _marriage_ for that matter. But… I’ll try… and I’m sorry it took me so long and that I was a jerk about it.” Jeff huffed before Annie smiled back, pulling herself back up to his height.

“It was worth it.”

Jeff smiled against her lips before pulling her in, nibbling down at her bottom lip as she drew away a few moments later.

“Do you want to know something?” Annie asked, looking down shyly.

“What?”

“Do you know what the _worst_ thing was about what happened?” Annie breathed shakily, holding Jeff’s hand a little tighter.

“It was the fact that I couldn’t remember our kiss… in the study room…” Annie scrunched up her face, water pricking at her eyes as she shook her head a little. Jeff’s heart rate picked up as she held back tears. He stood forward, his neck bent downwards again as he pushed her hair back on her shoulder, his thumb stroking against her jaw.

“Do you want to remember?” Annie nodded, biting on her lip as he looked down at her in the exact same way he had before, a slight tinge of sadness in his face at the thought that they were saying goodbye once again.

Their lips joined in the middle and everything slipped away. He tried his best to keep it simple, pulling away as he fought back the urge to kiss her with plenty more force. Her eyes flickered in the same way they had done before too… all of the memories bubbling up to the surface.

 _“I’m going to miss you.”_ Jeff whispered, pulling her in even closer. Annie nodded against him, her hands up around his neck.

 _“I’ll miss you too.”_ Now he was pulling her tighter than he ever had before and even his eyes were filling with tears as he tucked his head onto her shoulder. Jeff’s hands were wrapped around her, digging into the fabric of her loose sweater as she lent up against him. He closed his eyes before she pulled away, looking up at him, her face still contorted as she held herself together.

“Bye.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Jeff pulled her back for one last time, kissing her on the shoulder before letting her go. She smiled before turning around. Jeff had to bite down on his teeth as he watched her walk away, blowing out as he turned his head towards the check-in area.

Once he was through the scanners, his bag cleared, he sat down in a waiting area to pull out his phone. His gate number still had to be displayed so he wasn’t too worried about timing.

* * *

 

 _ANNIE:_ I'm pretty sure the cab driver is the one you told I was pregnant… A x

 _JEFF:_  Well if he asks – we lost it :-/

 _ANNIE:_ That’s sad though!

 _JEFF:_  Yeah but maybe one day you actually will be… x

 _ANNIE:_ Hmm… maybe… I’d like that :) x


End file.
